The Charmed Life 2: The Balancing Act
by tragicwitch
Summary: Sequel to the Charmed Life of Zack and Cody. I must be out of my mind. Full summary inside.
1. Chapter 1: The Tipping Scales

A/N: Howdy y'all. As you may already know, this is a sequel to my first story; "The Charmed Life of Zack and Cody". I really must be out of my mind. So don't read this unless you've read that. Make sense? Also, you may be a little confused on this first chapter if you haven't seen the ending of Charmed. Now just a warning, I'll be taking this one a little slower than the last since it's quite a bit longer, and at the moment I'm lacking a little motivation since I'm also working on an original piece. But I promise I will see this through to the end if it kills me. It's rated T for angst... or maybe I'm just being over-dramatic. And just to be clear once more, I do NOT own Charmed, the Suite Life of Zack and Cody, or any characters therein. I do however own the original characters who shall go unnamed at the moment because I don't want to give anything away. Any other questions? No? Okay. On with the show.

**Chapter 1: The Tipping Scales**

_It has been three years since the Seven vanquished the Source of All Evil for the third and final time. There were many battles ahead for them, but in the end, after The Charmed Ones defeated the Ultimate Power, the old demonic guard was decimated. Very few of the old generation remain, leaving a new generation of demons to do nothing but rebuild, gather their strength, and bide their time. But with the demons gone, a void is left where their evil acts once stood. And that void calls out to be filled to complete the Grand Design. Sadly, that space can be very tempting, and it seems that more and more witches are descending into that darkness to become the new face of evil, the other side of the scale._

The neon lights of the city cast eerie shadows all around the streets of Boston. Anyone out on the town alone at this hour was just begging to be mugged. But what most don't know is that sometimes, a common mortal thug is not the scariest thing out there.

"Please don't! Is it money?! Take it! It's yours!" The poor high school girl screeched at the tall pale man who had her around the throat. Her parents had warned her time and time again of the dangers of meeting someone online. But Charlene was the kind of person who always had to learn things the hard way. Now she was paying for it dearly.

The man made a disgusting inhaling sound, like taking in a dose of a highly addictive drug. "No money. Your screams are working wonders. Wolves are always more excited by the chase. We'll be eating good tonight my brothers."

Charlene tried to scream, but found that it came out strangled and weak as four pale gray wolves with gleaming yellow eyes emerged from the shadows. They snarled at her and licked their fanged maws, taking in her trim physique, her thighs that promised a juicy meal, but mostly the degree of her struggle. As their pack leader had said, it excited them. He threw the poor girl back to the ground where she landed on her knees. Her legs were covered in scrapes and her face marred by bruises and panicked tears. She looked up at her assailant with confused and pleading eyes.

He merely grinned, showing those odd canine teeth. "Start running." He hissed. Charlene bolted to her feet and took off the other way, down the unnaturally quiet street screaming for help. The wolf demon had planned the area and the hour well. No one would come to her aid. He and his wolves started to move after her, slowly at first, letting the thrill of the hunt wash over them. Their steps got faster and soon he and his companions were taking off after the poor girl on all fours, snarling and panting with lust. As he ran, the dark stringy hair on his head began to grow rapidly, not only on his head but on his face as well.

His face continued to transform until he too had the snout of a wolf. That same dark hair grew from the rest of his body, which grew in size, tearing the clothes he wore, until he appeared more wolf than man.

Twenty yards away, and gaining with each bound. Ten yards now. In a matter of moments he and his brothers would leap and drag her down with their fangs. The wolf man leaped a split second before the others of his pack, jaws wide to receive her tender juicy flesh. An instant before his fangs met her leg, he was thrown to the side, slamming into a lamppost. He snarled with his canine snout and rose to see what had struck him. His brothers had stopped the chase and were looking at him in confusion. His prey on the other hand hadn't even looked back and was already rounding the corner. The wolf demon rose back onto his hind legs before falling back on his massive front arms.

"Who dares interfere with our hunt?! Show yourself!"

"If you insist." Came a voice from the shadows, that was accompanied by a crimson fireball that nearly struck his face before he dodged to the side. Turning his yellow gaze back to where the projectile had come from, he saw two identical blond strangers, probably no older than the prey he was after. Their shaggy straw colored hair framed lightly tanned faces with a smattering of freckles across their noses which sat below a pair of blue eyes. One seemed more built than the other, but it wasn't him who was at the front, though judging by the smoke from his palm he had been the one who had thrown the fireball.

The wolf demon growled and bared his teeth. "Witches."

"What do we have here Cody?" the bigger twin said smugly. "Band of rabid dogs?"

"Filthy little mongrels aren't they Zack." Cody agreed, though his face was harder than his brother's.

"Indeed." Zack said sarcastically. "What should we do, fearless leader?"

Cody glowered at the pack leader. "Do the humane thing and put them down."

The wolf demons made a low growl in his throat again. "Just try it witches. My pack will shred you into bite sized bits. You'll make better eating than that brainless human anyway."

"Awe, how cute." Zack said in a mocking tone. "He's trying to talk, but all I can hear is 'woof woof woof'."

"How dare you mock us! Brothers, feast!" The alpha male issued the command, and all four wolves leaped for the twins at once. With a wave of his hand, Cody threw them back with that same unseen power from before. They rose back onto their paws, shaking it off to circle the teenaged witches, this time planning to move in from two sides.

"Can I take this one, please?" Zack pleaded.

Cody rolled his eyes. "Have your fun. But try not to show off too much."

Zack thought it over for a moment. "I'll try to try." He agreed. Then he took a deep breath to visualize his counter strike. The wolves launched themselves again for the twins. Zack stepped in front of his brother and jumped up to meet them. Red fire sprouted from his foot as he spun his leg out in a circle to strike each wolf in the face, sending them reeling back to the pavement. Zack landed and spun his other leg out, creating a wave of crimson fire that rolled over the wolves, who howled in agony before their inevitable vanquish.

The alpha male cast horrified eyes from one scorch mark to the other, each one representing a fallen member of his pack. With burning fury he leaped atop the lamppost he had crashed into to perform an aerial assault. The metal groaned in protest to his weight until he propelled himself for his earthbound enemies. Cody merely held out his hand and used his powers to throw him into the opposite wall behind them. His broad shoulder collided with the building with a sickening crack. The wolf demon staggered back up, growling menacingly. But he wasn't done yet. He opened his great fanged maw slowly, as if to howl. By the time the twins saw the white glow inside it, it was too late. The demon's howl shot a ball of white energy straight at them. At that range, they didn't have time to deflect it before it blew them off their feet to land on their backs. Wasting no time, the wolf sprung again and landed his heavy paws on their chests, crushing the air out of them. It made a strange snarling noise, almost like a laugh before slowly lowering its mouth to get a taste of his prey.

"I wonder if I'll be able to finish this meal all by myself. Maybe I should leave you both alive after having my fill to suffer and bleed. Too bad my pack isn't still here. They would have been merciful and helped me devour every scrap of you. Oh well." He made to clamp his jaws over Zack's head. All it would take was for him to close that giant mouth and Zack's head would have snapped cleanly off. But just before his teeth made contact, the wolf reared its head upward, howling in pain. Purple sparks shot from the wound in his shoulder where a gleaming athame was embedded.

The dagger flew out of the wound, and into the waiting hand of a brown haired girl with chocolate colored eyes. "Sorry I'm late." Max stated, although their whitelighter didn't sound sincere.

Seizing the opportunity, Cody struck the beast's abdomen with his palm, throwing him off of himself and his brother with a telekinetic thrust. He and Zack leaped to their feet. While Zack shot a ray of red fire at the wolf, Cody rounded on their rescuer. "Explain how someone who can freaking _orb _to wherever she pleases be late!"

"Are you gonna whine or are you gonna vanquish?" Max shot back.

"Cody, I could use your help here!" Zack reminded his brother. The fire was damaging the wolf, but his anger was giving him strength to step closer and closer to his enemies. "You got the spell?"

"Right here." Cody reached into his jean pocket and pulled out the folded slip of paper where the two of them had copied a vanquishing spell from their own Book of Shadows. He stood next to Zack and held it up so they both could see. Without wasting another breath, they recited the incantation.

"_Wolf who wears the skin of sheep, whose howl is fierce and fangs cut deep, Cease your hunt of the small and meek, and join your pack in forever sleep."_

The wolf's earsplitting howl rang through the air before Zack's flames wrapped around him completely, shrouding him from sight. When the fire cleared, all that remained was a pile of ashes and the wreaking scent of scorched fur.

Zack sighed and cracked his knuckles. "These guys are getting too easy."

"I thought you said you weren't going to show-boat this time." Cody grinned.

"I said I'd try."

"Umm," Max interrupted "When you two ladies are done, I think we should orb back to the Tipton."

"What, now?" Zack frowned at the whitelighter. "It's such a nice night. Why don't we walk?"

Cody rolled his eyes. "You just want to scope out another demon to hunt."

Max orbed in front of Zack in a swirl of white lights and held the tip of her athame threateningly against his nose. "No. This was your third hunt tonight, and the Elders said there aren't any more innocents in immediate danger. In fact They're getting a little tired of you sending me to ask them. They said something about you _looking _for trouble."

Zack shrugged and backed away slowly from her weapon. "No idea where that came from. How do they come up with this stuff?"

"Max is right." Cody agreed. "It's getting late and I have an exam tomorrow. With how much sleep I've been getting, I'll be lucky to squeak by with an A minus."

Zack made a horrified face. "Oh no, the horror!" The other two folded their arms and gave him a reproachful look. His expression turned to a pout. He hated it when they ganged up on him. "Fine. But can we please walk? And if we don't notice anything… demony, then I'll back off for awhile. Promise."

Max smiled. "And how do you plan to get into the Tipton without orbing? It's 1am. The doors are locked."

Zack frowned. Seeing no other argument, he held out his hand to her so she could orb them both back home. Max and Cody shared mischievous grins. It was surprising how easy it was to make Zack forget that the Tipton was a hotel that never locked its doors.

--

Later the next afternoon the twins made a somber walk through the lobby of the Tipton hotel making their way to the elevator. "How'd you do on your test?" Zack asked half heartedly as they stopped near the center table to talk.

"It wasn't just a test." Cody said defensively. "It was my mid-term exam for advanced bio-chemistry. And thanks to your… all night blow-out," he said after having woken up enough to remember not to talk openly about demons with so many prying ears, "the whole thing was a blur. If my score isn't good this could severely affect my twelve step plan."

"You mean to be the first doctor-chef-in-space?" Zack rolled his eyes.

"You laugh now, but when I'm on TV you'll see differently."

Zack chuckled. "Then lets get you back to the suite so you can hit the books. Don't want to disappoint all one of your future viewers."

Cody glowered. He and Zack started for the elevator again only for Cody to bump right into someone and falter back a few steps, rubbing his nose. "Owe. Sorry I didn't…" when he looked up to see who he had bumped into, his words froze as his eyes met the cold blue ones of the man in a bellhop uniform with a long ponytail of mud brown hair. He looked to be in his early twenties, and was of a long averagely muscular frame. The bellhop just rolled his eyes and continued pushing the luggage cart he had been tending to before he had been interrupted.

Zack snapped his fingers in front of his brother's face to pull him back into reality. "What? You can handle demons, but you're scared of the new bellhop?"

Cody shook his head as if trying to discard an unwanted thought. "You can't tell me you don't get a weird vibe from that guy."

"Come on, it's just Nathan. Norman the doorman keeps to himself a lot too. You're not scared of him."

"I'm not scared of Nathan. He just… makes me nervous."

"Okay, so he's a little creepy." Zack admitted as the elevator dinged and admitted them in. "But you've got to admit that niece of his is fi-INE." He grinned.

Cody gave him a crooked smile as the elevator made its rise to the twenty fifth floor where their suite was. "She's just as quiet as he is. Has she even said a word to you aside from 'quit staring at me you little blond freak'?"

Zack grimaced. "She never said those exact words… but I'm making progress. The other day she said something to me."

"And what was that?"

Zack hesitated. "We were at the elevator and she said 'I'll take the next one'."

Cody smiled smugly at the self proclaimed lady's man. "I'm seeing a real future there."

"Good thing that's not your power. I don't think I could live with you actually knowing _everything_." The elevator dinged again and opened to allow them entrance to the twenty fifth floor. They made their way through the halls to the suite in silence for the most part.

Over the past few weeks, Cody couldn't help but notice how his brother seemed pretty far from his usual wise cracking self. Whatever it was, it had been coming on for awhile now, and Cody had a bad feeling he knew what it was. "Still upset?"

"No, not really. I'll get over it." Zack answered unconvincingly.

"I don't get it. I couldn't be happier that the demons have slowed down."

"Yeah that's great for _you," _Zack grimaced, "but you had stuff before we got our powers. You had school, you're career goals, your cooking, and it's just making me realize that I didn't really have another plan outside this one. For the last three years, the witch stuff has been pretty much my whole life."

"You had all the girls, even when you became a witch." Cody reminded him.

Zack thought about that for a moment, a mischievous grin forming on his face. "Okay, maybe not my _whole _life. But that was a big part of it. I don't really want to revert back to… what I was like before." They were in their hallway now and coming up on their suite.

Cody tried to think of something positive to say. "Don't worry about it. You're not the same person you were before we got our powers. You've matured a lot. You'll do just fine."

Zack thought about that as he reached for the knob. "I have matured." He agreed as he opened the door.

"Surprise." Came a voice inside their suite that they both instantly recognized. Forgetting everything he had just said, Zack threw the door open and ran for the woman to literally jump into her waiting arms.

"Phoebe!"

"Good to see you too Zack." The brown eyed woman laughed, ruffling his shaggy blond mop of hair. It was a good thing Phoebe Halliwell was such a strong woman, otherwise Zack might have knocked her over.

Another voice sounded just behind her, accompanied by a pink glow. "Take it easy their sport. Don't want you to break my wife." Coop smiled.

"It's good to see you boys." Came yet another voice. Piper stood in the back with baby Chris on her hip. Her husband Leo stood just next to her with little Wyatt on his shoulders.

"What are you guys doing here?!" Cody beamed at their visitors. Wyatt begged to be put down so that he could run to Cody on his little four-year-old legs. Cody hoisted the boy up and spun him around. "Hey big guy." Wyatt squealed with excitement.

In the kitchen a cloud of white lights suddenly drew their attention as Paige and her husband Henry made their entrance. Paige steadied him with her hand. "You okay honey?"

"I'm fine." He promised, though he looked on the verge of being sick. "I think I'm getting the hang of this." He lied.

Paige turned to greet Zack and Cody. "And how are my two favorite little witches?"

"Not so little anymore." Phoebe reminded her sister.

"Oh that's right. Did you guys forget?" Paige smiled with her full red-lipsticked mouth.

"Forget what?" Cody asked, starting to get a little frustrated, but was interrupted again by Zack.

"Is Billy here?"

Phoebe frowned. "Tch, we hardly ever see her anymore. She's either on a demon hunt or she's throwing herself into college. Where's your mom? She really should be here."

"She's on tour still."

"For her CD?"

"No, for Dad's band."

"Actually," Paige interjected, "I ran into Max while I was 'Up There'." She pointed to the ceiling, though everyone knew that she wasn't talking about the suite above them. "She should be on her way here with Carey right now."

"Okay, really guys. What's going on?" Cody tried, but with so many people in the room he couldn't get a word in edge-ways.

Still ignoring Cody, Piper asked her youngest sister "Paige, did you remember to pick up the cake?"

"See for yourself." Paige answered, holding her hand towards the kitchen countertop. In a twinkling of orbs, a beautifully decadent chocolate cake, no doubt made by Piper herself appeared on its surface with bright red lettering written in flawless calligraphy across its chocolate icing. The words "Happy Anniversary" blazed for all to see. Cody slapped his hand to his forehead. How could he have forgotten? It had been three years ago on this very day that he and his brother had met the sisters, but more significantly it was the day they had become witches.

Piper flashed them both her warm maternal smile. "Happy anniversary you two."

No sooner had she said this then two others were orbed into the room. Max supporting Carey Martin, the boys' mother who felt as comfortable about orbing as Henry did. "Surprise." Carey beamed at her sons. "Didn't think I would make it?"

"Mom!" both twins cried in unison before glomping onto her. She kissed them both on their foreheads.

"I'm so proud of you boys. I can't believe it's been three years already."

Cody shifted his face to give Max a sly grin. "Have you been keeping secrets again?"

Max shot him a mock glare. "I knew as much as you. I just happened to run into Paige while I was making my report."

"Well," Phoebe said, making her way to the counter, "This cake's not going to cut itself. And I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm starving." Zack hadn't really paid much attention to it before, but now that he saw the way Phoebe was walking, and the slight protrusion of her stomach hidden beneath her uncharacteristically loose top, he looked back to Coop.

"Is she…" He couldn't really wrap his head around it enough to finish that sentence. Coop only nodded.

"That's our little Lady-Bug in there. Found out two months ago… well I did. Apparently she's known for awhile. She just loves holding those premonitions over my head."

"Honey," Phoebe snapped playfully at her husband, "did I mention I'm starving?"

Coop winked at Zack. "I'll cut the cake then."

"Please do." Piper said while rocking little Chris on her hip. "Before Phoebe sinks her teeth into it. I baked it, I want some of it too."


	2. Chapter 2: One Last Hurrah

**A/N: **I apologize for the short chapter, but you'd be surprised how much information/progression can be crammed into such a short space. On another note, I have no problem with anonymous reviews, but if you actually **log in **it'll be easier for me to respond to questions. Like always, no ownership, no profit. Enjoy the chapter.

**Chapter 2: One Last Hurrah**

"Alright Cody, what is this about?" Zack grumbled impatiently while his brother forced him onto the couch to cover his eyes.

"You'll see in a minute. Keep them closed." Cody warned. "Trust me, I can close them for you. It _will_ hurt."

Max rolled her eyes from her vantage point on the barroom stool. "Cody, it's not like you're wheeling a bike in here for his birthday. Would you just tell him?"

Cody glowered at their whitelighter. "You have no sense of dramatic build up."

"Cody, you have three seconds to explain." Zack griped again.

"Like you have anywhere better to go." His brother reminded him. "Look, I promise you'll thank me for this."

"What time was she supposed to get here again?" Max asked with an edge of boredom to her voice. Cody shot her an incredulous stare for giving away part of the secret.

"She?" Zack uncovered his eyes to give the same look at his twin. "Please tell me you didn't set me up on a blind date."

"Better." Cody grinned. Before he could explain further, there was a light knock at the door as apparently delicate knuckles wrapped against it. "There she is!" he beamed.

"There who is?!" Zack tried in vain to get an answer out of his brother. Cody moved quickly to answer the door.

**--Three Days Ago--**

"I'm worried about him." Cody admitted to Piper while she spooned another bite of the rich chocolate cake into baby Chris' mouth. "He's just been so glum since the whole demonic slow-down. I don't get it. I couldn't be happier that things are finally getting back to normal."

Piper spooned herself some of the cake on her plate before answering Cody. "That's because you and me," she pointed her spoon at the both of them, "we're the normal ones. The rest, well they're freaks. You and I never really liked the whole witchcraft thing. I mean sure, it's convenient at how many accidents I can avoid now that I can freeze time, but sometimes all the other stuff didn't seem worth it. All I really wanted was a happy normal life with Leo and the boys. After 

awhile, Phoebe started to want the same thing. Paige on the other hand, she still loves being a witch. That includes the demon fighting and the near death experiences. In fact that's why she became a full time whitelighter. She missed the thrill of fighting for the greater good. Billy's the same way, but give her a few years. She'll learn."

Cody watched Zack try to feel the kick inside Phoebe's stomach who was explaining to him that "Ladybug" wasn't developed enough yet to do that. "I think you're right. The demon fighting was probably Zack's favorite thing. Think he'll get over it? I just can't stand this slump he's in."

Piper mused for a moment, pushing Chris' hand out of her face when he tried to put his fingers in her mouth. "You guys just let out of school, right?"

"Yep. We're officially seniors now. That's probably what's got him down too; the thought of moving on."

"Makes sense. So how about one last hurrah?"

Cody frowned. "Huh?" Piper smiled meaningfully at him, and he got her message. "Ah." The party continued until Carey realized that she had five minutes before curtain call back at the concert in LA. So Max orbed her back while everyone else said their goodbyes.

"You'll tell me when it's time right?" Zack asked, still unable to tear himself away from listening to Phoebe's barely protruding womb.

"Relax Zack." Phoebe ruffled his hair. "There's still a good seven months before that happens. I promise I'll keep you posted." She and Coop exchanged humorous glances over Zack's newfound fascination with her pregnancy.

Henry put his arms around Paige's shoulders and kissed her on the cheek. "Speaking of which," he whispered, "when do _we_ get to put a little bun in the oven?"

Paige's eyes grew wide. "Not here." She scolded, quieting the matter.

"Alright, it looks like we've made a big enough nuisance out of ourselves here." Piper said while handing Chris off to Leo so she could scoop Wyatt into her arms. "Let's go make nuisances of ourselves back home now, shall we?" She smiled encouragingly one more time at Cody before taking Paige's hand so they could start the orb. She mouthed the words "good luck" before the rest joined in the circle. Then in a twinkling of lights, they were gone.

Later that night, after Zack was asleep, Cody crept silently out of their room. Once he was in the living room, far enough away from the door so that he wouldn't wake his brother, he took a deep breath and whispered one single word. "Max."

A cloud of orbs descended from the ceiling, forming into the brown eyed girl with twin braids. "Look Zack," she said automatically before realizing her mistake, "I've already told you that the Elders are tired of you sending…. Oh… it's you this time." There was an irritated edge in her voice that twinged Cody's stomach with guilt, though he wasn't in the mood to talk about it right now. "So what do you want?"

"It's about Zack… do you think you can do me… a favor?"

Max's eyes grew wide as she took the thought right out his mouth before he could voice it. "Not you too."

**--Present--**

"Hello." A musical voice drifted from the doorway when Cody opened it. Zack's curiosity got the better of him and he got to his feet to look past his brother at the newcomer. He suddenly found himself wishing that his brother _had _set him up on a blind date. "I'm Gwen Solidus. I believe Max told you about me?" The girl introduced herself graciously.

"Hey Gwen." Max waved half heartedly from the kitchen.

"Oh, there you are."

"It's nice to meet you," Cody began "come—"

"Come on in." Zack interrupted, shoving his brother out of the way to admit their visitor. He took advantage of the better view to get his first real good look at her. Beautiful would have been an understatement. This girl was knock-out _gorgeous. _She wore a simple red tank top over a black long sleeve, and stylishly faded blue jeans over her long slim legs. Judging by her height, she was older than they were. Probably closer to Maddie's age. Her sandy blond hair hung in ringlets that went all the way down to just above her waist. It framed her alluring pale face, which housed a pair of bright hazel eyes. It took awhile for Zack to realize that his mouth was hanging open. He hastily corrected himself and tried to smooth things over. "I'm Zack, the attractive one, this is my brother Cody, and I guess you've already met Max. So what can we do for you?"

Gwen flashed him a pearl white smile of admiration as he guided her to the couch. "I know who you are. I'll admit I was a little hesitant to ask for your help on this case, what with you two being so young."

"Case?" Zack knitted his brows together as his brother's recent actions started to make sense. So that was how Cody planned to make him feel better.

Gwen continued as if she hadn't spoken. "I guess I couldn't turn down help from members of The Seven. That's almost as good as The Charmed Ones. Not to mention all the other exploits you've done since then."

The brothers looked to each other and shrugged modestly at her. Since becoming witches, a lot of comparisons had been made between them and the sisters. But rather than resenting it, they seemed to take it as a compliment. Max rolled her eyes at how the two of them milked the attention.

"Well," Zack tried to sound casual, but he couldn't fight the slight heat in his face, "I guess out record speaks for itself. What can we do for you doll face?" he motioned for her to take a seat.

The girl's face hardened the smallest degree. "Gwen," she corrected and sat lightly on the edge of the couch while Zack took the armchair beside it, "and like I said, I need your help. I'm a truancy officer for magic school, and there's a certain student I've had difficulty retrieving."

While Zack guided her to the couch while Cody tried to keep his smile intact until he reached where Max was sitting so he could whisper his frustration in her ear. "That's the big case the Elders dug up for us? A magic school truant?"

"They said it would be hard for them to pick up a big case like the one you asked for at the moment, but Sandra promised she'd try." Max whispered back, her annoyance matching his. The tiffs between them seemed to have become more frequent lately even though they were no longer dating. "Just give this a chance. Maybe there's more to this case that meets the eye."

Max was soon to be proven right as usual. Gwen wasted no time getting down to business. "At first I thought she'd decided to take off, go back to being human. A lot of the students do when they can't handle the stress of being a witch. There really isn't anything we can do about that. That's their whitelighter's job. But later on, her whitelighter dropped off the radar. No one's heard from him since. So I decided to do a little investigating on my own. It's a lot worse than I thought."

Zack took this in calmly. "So what does she look like?" he asked, realizing after it was out of his mouth just how far that question was actually going to get them. It wasn't like she was a lost little girl walking the halls of the Tipton.

"She's about your age." Gwen answered. "Maybe a year younger. Here's her photo." She pulled a three by five picture from her sleeve and held it out for them to see. "Her name is Nicole Michaels." The photo was of a olive toned girl a white 

streak in her otherwise dark hair. Her eyes were a startling blue color, and as Gwen had said she appeared to be about sixteen. Zack froze when he saw the picture, and motioned for Cody and Max to come closer. Their jaws dropped at once. The Elders definitely knew what they were talking about, because they had already met this girl several times and not even known it.

"Isn't that…" Cody began.

Zack finished his sentence. "Nathan's neice."


	3. Chapter 3: Surrogate

**Chapter 3: Surrogate**

**--Tipton Hotel Boston: Suite 2330, 1:30pm--**

"I told you something was weird about Nathan." Cody socked Zack's shoulder.

"Is that what it's calling itself?" Gwen asked.

Zack answered her question. "Yeah, he's a new bellhop; tall, pale, brown ponytail, kind of creepy. Cody's scared stiff around him." Zack was met with a venomous glare from his brother.

Gwen didn't take notice of the exchange. "With good reason. If he's the demon I think he is, we should all be on our guard."

Max seemed to have taken greater interest in the conversation. "Why? What can he do?"

"This is only guesswork from my investigation, but I believe that his real name is Gabriel. He's a powerful upper level demon, not very intelligent, but dangerous nonetheless. He has the agility and strength of a jaguar."

"Psh." Zack snorted. "So does just about every other demon we've ever fought."

"Well there's more." Gwen admitted. "He also has a sort of sixth sense that allows him to anticipate his opponent's moves before they happen."

Zack thought for a moment, putting his detective skills to work (it came second nature to him by now. "So what would he want someone like Nicole for?"

"She's a very powerful young witch. A fire-starter no less. That alone makes her a valuable asset, but from what I've gathered, there's something a little… more to her powers than that. She might even be able to give you boys a run for your money if she decides to attack."

"But why would she do that?"

"If Nicole is just wandering the hotel of her own free will, then I think it's safe to assume that she's following Gabriel by choice. You said she was pretending to be his surrogate, correct?"

"It's probably just another demonic power play." Cody surmised. "You know, some demon trying to gather enough followers to take over the underworld."

"Just what we need," Max huffed, "another Source."

"You may be right about that." Gwen agreed. "But like I said, Gabriel's not a very intelligent demon. I doubt he has the brains to pull off something like that. He's probably just a hired gun."

While the other three took in the situation with hardened expressions, Zack's face seemed to have regained some its long lost enthusiasm. He was actually smiling. This sounded big. Not just big, probably the biggest thing he and his brother had agreed to take on since The Heir. The thin barely visible pink scar on his cheek began to throb from his excitement. "So it looks like the plan is, get Nicole out, trap Gabriel, and find out who he's working for." The others gave him incredulous looks. "What? That _is_ what we're doing right? Pretty straight forward. The usual."

"There's nothing usual about our job." Cody reminded him, sounding very much like he was lecturing Zack. The whole 'protector' thing had a way of getting under Zack's skin, although he tried not to show it. Arguments and power struggles between the two of them had almost cost them innocents in the past. And more often than not (even though it pained Zack to admit it) Cody was usually right.

"You know what I mean. How tough can this guy be? I think a concentrated fireball with mine and your powers ought to stun him long enough."

Cody annoyed his brother further by shaking his head and giving him a familiar look. It was the kind of look he gave him when he was hesitant to tell him that Zack might have to lag back.

"No." Zack said automatically. "No you're not leaving me behind to do the fearless leader thing."

"It's not that we're leaving you behind." Cody tried to smooth things over. "It's just that I think it's better if we save you as a trump card for this situation, and let me be the point man."

"But _my _power's the strongest." Zack argued, feeling a little embarrassed that Gwen was witnessing him lose a struggle in their sibling rivalry.

"But mine and Max's powers make us the fastest. If things come down to force, your fireballs won't do much about Nathan's sixth sense. If we went hand to hand, my telekinesis might be able to even things for us. And if things get too heated, Max will be there to orb me right out."

"So what am I supposed to do?" Zack tried not to whine. "Stand guard?"

"Well considering that we're likely to be doing this within the hotel," Max reasoned, "I'd feel better about not using your firepower either. We already owe Mr. Moseby for a couple of the doors and windows. He can't keep covering for us."

"Sorry Zack. But unless we really _really _need your pyrokinesis, it might be better for you to hang back." Cody really did mean the apology. After all, the whole reason they had taken this case was so Zack could have one last chance to jump back into the good vs. evil game before their lives as witches came to an indefinite stand-still. Thankfully, Gwen was smart enough to pick up on the situation as well.

"If it's alright, I think it would be best if I stayed behind with Zack. My powers might not do any good against something like Gabriel either. And I'd feel a little better if Zack was with me." Cody mouthed a silent thank you to her.

Zack's face immediately softened. "I guess I could do that." He deliberated for a moment longer. "But if things get the tiniest bit out of control, you'll call me in, right?"

"Of course." Cody agreed.

**--Tipton Hotel, sixth floor corridor; 3:20pm--**

"Alright, just play it cool." Cody reminded Max for the fiftieth time while they waited for an answer from the door. She got the vague feeling he was just trying to calm his own nerves. "Remember what Gwen said. If he catches on that this is a setup, he'll grab Nicole and jet."

"Yeah, I got that."

"Is Nicole in there?" He asked, not picking up on the irritation in her voice.

Max focused her senses beyond the door. Now that she knew Nicole was a witch, it was easier to pick up on her presence. "Yeah, she's in there. But the signal's faint. She's probably sleeping. Weird, she seems a little old to go down for a nap at three in the afternoon."

"You ever see Zack when we get home from school? I used to stick chips by his nose and watch his snoring suck them up." They both chuckled at that. Cody stole a glance down the hall to make sure that Gwen and Zack were keeping out of sight. Zack was peering around the corner, ready to duck out of view the moment the door opened. At least he hadn't argued further when Gwen had agreed to stay with him. Cody knew his brother well enough to know that he couldn't resist a girl batting their big pretty eyes at him.

There was silence that seemed to stretch on forever after Max knocked on the door. It wasn't just who they were visiting that made the two of them anxious, it was the suite number; suite 666. Not only was that a creepy little number all by itself, this very suite held memories for both of them that they would sooner forget. Once the door opened however, they both decided they could've endured the silence a little longer. Nathan was out of his uniform and wearing casual black jeans and a navy blue sleeveless. His pale blue eyes were as icy as ever. His mud brown hair was pulled back as usual to expose his prominent cheekbones. Though he was pale and thin, the long muscles along his arms suggested that he was physically fit, despite an apparent aversion to sunlight. His eyes narrowed when they landed on Cody. He was no stranger to the antics of him and his twin.

He spoke in an unrecognizable accent. His English didn't sound broken or forced. On the contrary, sounded a little too perfect, too clear, with his hard C's sounding slightly more pronounced than what was normal. "Kan I help you?"

"Um…" Cody stuttered until Max gently (in her view anyway) nudged his side with her elbow. "I was just wondering if we could—"

But Nathan cut him off, shifting his gaze to Max. "You… I don't think I've seen you around here before. Are you an akquaintance of his?"

Max thought quickly, remembering the excuse they had for coming here. She'd had a lot of practice in this field. Whitelighters had to come up with fake backgrounds all the time. "Actually, I just transferred into his school. We're… um… old friends. He mentioned that someone lived here that I think I might know."

"You must be mistaken." Nathan moved to shut the door, but Max was persistent.

"Nicole Sanchez?"

The man's expression hardened into one of suspicion. "How do you know Nikole?"

"I think she used to go to my old school. San _Gabriel?" _Trying to implicate the demon's name may have been pretty dangerous, but it was the only thing Max could think of at the time to convince him to let them in. If Gwen was right about him, he would very likely try to dismember them once they got inside. Her fingers twitched, readying to reach for her athame in an instant.

Nathan's face remained hard as marble. "Kome in. Nikole is asleep right now, but I'll see if I kan wake her. She'll be glad to have visitors."

"I'll bet." Max muttered under her breath. Nathan moved aside to allow them in, keeping his hand on the doorknob. She and Cody exchanged wary glances before stepping into the suite. Already, Cody could feel the adrenaline, letting his experience of three years of being a witch take over. He readied his power, feeling it flow down his arms and into his already clenched fists at his sides. They stepped inside, and were half surprised to find that the suite looked nothing at all like they remembered it. But of course it wouldn't. Nathan seemed like the type that had more to worry about; the type that had to blend in. Nothing at all like… Cody didn't finish the thought. Instead his eyes darted from side to side in search for the one they had come for.

"Uncle Nate?" Came an airy voice that sounded more like an echo. "Who is it?" A slight dark haired girl entered the living room through the adjacent bedroom, rubbing her eyes whose pale coloring were startling in her olive toned skin. Even more striking was the white streak just above her left ear.

Their eyes were fixed on her at once. And while they were occupied with this new distraction, Nathan casually closed the door, and in a quick subtle movement, so that the pair wouldn't hear, he locked it and fastened the bolt.

**--Adjacent Corridor--**

"Okay, they're in." Zack reported to Gwen as he quickly ducked out of Nathan's view. "Nothing to do now but wait."

Gwen shrugged. "Guess so. Your brother sure can take charge, can't he."

"Yeah." Zack answered sullenly. "That's him; our 'Fearless Leader'."

Gwen didn't seem to notice his annoyance. "It doesn't seem like he and your whitelighter get along very well though."

"Oh Max? They like each other enough. Let's just say there's a lot of… history there."

She appeared to take an interest in the way he said that. "Oh. What do you mean by history? An old girlfriend?"

"Yeah. Never really got why they broke it off. But things tend to be pretty tense around here since then." Zack bit his lip. He actually knew very well what their reason was, but he didn't like to talk about it. They had lost innocents before, and each time had hurt, but they really took that one hard. Quickly he changed the subject. "So what can you do? You _are_ a witch right?"

Gwen seemed a little offended by the question. "What else would I be?"

"I don't know. You're not a nymph or an elf. You could probably pass as a demon though."

"Demon?" the set of her mouth hardened.

"Not that that's a bad thing!" Zack corrected as best he could. "I mean, I've meet some pretty good looking demons in my line of work. Like this one named Na—" Gwen put her hands on her hips. "Sorry, I really didn't mean it like that."

"Good. Now take your foot out of your mouth and start again."

"Sorry. I just meant to ask what you could do. What's your _witch _power?"

Her face softened a little. She seemed to like the emphasis he put on the word witch. "Deflection." She answered flatly. "But I've picked up a few other tricks since I've been at Magic School, but nothing that would really help me against Gabriel. I can deflect energy balls, but not fists."

"Sounds awesome." Zack was only half listening. He stole another glance down the hall.

"I'm sure they're alright." Gwen assured him.

"I'm sure they are too. Probably wrapping things up as we speak." There was a little resentment in his voice."

Gwen quirked one eyebrow at him. "You don't sound too happy about it."

"Sorry." Zack kind of apologized. "The whole leader thing gets a little old though."

"Sibling rivalry?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"A little. But I come from a big family, so I know what it looks like. Don't worry about it. I'm sure you're every bit as talented as he is. He just sounds like he has the more level head is all. You're probably the hotheaded one." She smiled at her rather obvious pun.

Zack let a small crimson flame dance on his palm. "No argument there." Their brief chuckle was cut short abruptly by an echoing crash and a string cursing.

"Son of a—"

Zack and Gwen rounded the corner to find an infuriated Max getting to her feet after having been slammed against the wall across the doorway to Nathan's suite, which now hung by its hinges. Without even looking at them, she leaped to her feet and jumped back through the broken doorway, athame in hand.

"That's our cue." Zack took Gwen's hand and they both sprinted down the hall into the suite which was alive and roaring now. Cody was spinning whirling kicks and wild punches at his adversary, his telekinesis giving his attacks speed that made him almost a blur. But it wasn't his brother that was holding Zack's attention. Nathan still seemed to be the pale long muscled young man they'd seen before, but along his arms were bulging black veins. His fingers had grown actual black talon like claws. And his eyes had gone from the cool icy color they had been to heated pools of black, like hot tar. Even the whites of his eyes had vanished. Zack had only seen those kinds of eyes one other time, and the memory filled him with terror, but also with that special adrenaline that had allowed him to survive these encounters over and over in the last three years. Fire roared to life in his hands. With deadly aim he threw two powerful balls of fire of the darkest shade of red. However Nathan retracted away from Cody's kick and dodged the projectiles all in one fluid moment.

"His sixth sense!" Cody shouted, though it nearly cost him as Nathan came at him with his left claw.

"He can dodge those kinds of attacks because he knows they're coming." Max explained, keeping a surprisingly level voice in this circumstance. "I can't even orb close to him because he'll just hit me when I reform."

Zack bared his arms with practiced precision. "Then I'll have to take it up a notch." The fire in his hands began to spread until all of his arms below the elbows were in flames. While Cody spun into the air to deliver two fast kicks into his jaw, Zack moved in with his blazing arms, giving the demon two powerful jabs into his kidneys.

Gabriel roared and backhanded Zack across the face. The blow sent him flying into the far wall. The impact knocked the wind out of him. Then the demon rounded on Cody, snatching him by the ankle. He swung him up and brought him down hard into the coffee table, splintering it in half. He brandished his claws, moving in on Cody to finish the job when he was struck in the chest by a shaft of purple lightning. The bolt from Max's dagger blew him off his feet to collide with the wall behind him, shattering the lamp that had been there against his head. Gabriel was back on his feet in an instant, leaping over the couch with inhuman speed to reach Max. But Cody struggled to get to his hands and knees. With a flick of his wrist, his powers flung Gabriel to the side where Zack, already back on his feet, met him with a blazing fist into his abdomen. Then with a fiery kick into his side, he was on the ground.

"STOP!" Everyone in the room turned to where the cry had rang out from. Nicole, nearly forgotten in the confusion was crouched in a fetal position in the farthest corner of the room. Her hands were pressed tightly to the sides of her head, and her eyes were screwed shut as though she were suffering from an incredible migraine. "Stop!" she cried again, and this time, blue sparks shot from her body. They flashed again and again until her entire body was engulfed in blue flames. While the others appeared confused, the expression on Gabriel's face showed pure terror.

"NO!" The demon lunged for her before Zack could stop him. But his arms were spread out in a strange protective fashion. He reached her and threw his arms around the girl, apparently unaffected by the unnatural blue flames. Nicole screamed once more and soon her fire reached its limit, setting off a deafening explosion. Zack shielded his eyes and braced for the impact. But it never came. He opened his eyes again, and when his vision adjusted to the blinding blue light, he saw that Gwen had moved in front of him. In front of her was a spinning white disk, apparently of pure energy. There was another explosion, the strain knocking Gwen to her knees, and the shattering of glass, and then the scene was clear again. The Suite was in utter shambles, with scorch marks all along the walls, and not one single piece of furniture left intact. Zack helped Gwen back to her feet. Her face was covered with a glistening sheen of sweat.

"What was that? Not even my fire can do anything that big."

"Wow Zack," Max grunted while also regaining her footing. "You just got showed up by a little girl."

"We all did." Cody reminded her. Apparently they too had been shielded from the blast. Remembering the task at hand, he scanned the room for where Nathan and Nicole had ended up. They were nowhere in sight, and the window was shattered. He and his brother rushed to peer down at the street six stories below. They were met with the stares of curious bystanders who had seen the explosion and were trying to see what had happened, but there was no sign of the demon or the girl he had carried off. They were already gone.


	4. Chapter 4: Investigation

**Chapter 4: Investigation**

**--Tipton Hotel, Boston, Suite 2330; 11:00 am the next day-- **

"So when are the police coming by?" Max asked with slight worry in her voice. Every now and again there was a cop who recognized her and she'd have to use the memory dust. It wasn't easy to explain how her face matched a picture of a dead girl that was in the newspaper ten years ago. She fiddled nervously in with one of her braids while pretending to read the newspaper on the kitchen counter.

"Should be any minute now." Cody answered.

"You don't think they know we were involved, do you?" Zack asked anxiously.

"No. Mr. Moseby just said that they were questioning all the employees about Nathan, and since Mom's not here and we live at the hotel, they'd come by our suite and ask us."

"So what story have they chosen to run with?" Gwen queried while nursing the burn on her arm, now hidden under her newly repaired blouse.

"He didn't say. They're probably keeping the details quiet until they know for sure." Cody actually had a lot of experience with the police. They had all had run-ins with them in the past. He was surprised they hadn't linked them to a lot of the unsolved cases that were surely beginning to pile up in their offices. "So remember, just play it cool."

"You don't have to tell us." Zack reminded him. "But you might want to do something about that flood you've got forming on your head."

Cody hastily wiped his forehead clear of any sweat. Covering things up had always been Zack's forte, even before they became witches. Though he had gotten better at lying over the years, Cody always had to struggle with keeping calm while he did it. He still couldn't effectively deceive their mother.

The door's buzzer rang, and Zack turned out to be the only one brave enough to answer it. "Can we help you?" He greeted the visitor, trying to sound confused, like this was unexpected.

The man standing in their doorway was a tall dark man with close cropped kinky hair and a neat goatee on an otherwise smooth face. He sported a grayish brown suit, and a pair of dark collected eyes. The man pulled out his badge and held it up for them to see, and spoke in a kind, but very direct manner. "Lieutenant Darryl Morris, NYPD. Mind if I come in?"

"Not at all." Zack lied, moving aside to allow the Lieutenant entry.

"Cookie?" Cody pointed to the small plate of treats on the coffee table which had just now been made to look like it had always been there.

"No thanks, but do you mind if I have a seat?"

"Go right ahead." Gwen gestured to the armchair next to the couch where she was still sitting.

It seemed that Lieutenant Morris had just now noticed the two girls in the room. "I'm sorry, who are you? I was told that the twins, Zack and Cody Martin lived here."

"I'm Max. I'm an old friend." the young whitelighter answered, with barely a glance in his direction.

"And I'm Gwen. I'm Zack's tutor on the weekdays. He's hopeless at math you see." She kept that perfect grin just so much as to appear friendly, without looking like she was hiding something. When she was sure Morris wasn't looking at her, she gave Zack a sly wink.

"I guess you both know why I'm here." The Lieutenant spoke to the twins now. Zack was anxious, but not surprised that Morris' cool dark eyes were pinned on him. Mr. Moseby had probably told him all about them by now. "So let's start with how you know Nathan Richards."

"Not well." Cody answered automatically. Zack mentally cursed him for answering so quickly. Now this guy probably already knew they'd rehearsed it. Cody was the picture of guilt, not even relaxed enough to sit down. He just kept a straight face and picked up where his brother had left off. This was one of the occasions in their line of work where it was best to let _him _do the talking.

"He didn't work here very long. And he never really talked to us. He was kind of anti-social."

"So he didn't say or do anything unusual for him today?" They both shook their heads. "And what about his niece, Nicole?"

"Never really met her. She was pretty quiet too. And she slept a lot."

"And you know this how?"

The gears in Zack's head could almost be physically heard as he raced to find an answer for this. "Our mom told us not to bother her whenever she slept… which was a lot."

"Of course." Morris nodded. While jotting down a few notes on the small notebook he had pulled from his coat pocket. His expression was so detached, Zack couldn't tell if he was buying this or not. But what reason could he possibly have for suspecting two seventeen year olds to be involved in the disappearance of a bellhop and his supposed niece? Although over the years, Zack had discovered that their line of work had, many times, collided with _his_ line of work, and that for some officers, belief in the supernatural was becoming easier to grasp. Morris finished scribbling down another note, and reviewed what he'd written so far. "Hmm, that's interesting."

"What is?" Cody inquired, earning another glare from his twin.

Morris looked up from his notes to glance at them both. "It's just that the police haven't released any information on their whereabouts, yet you two are talking about them like they're not coming back."

This time Zack sent the mental kick to himself. This guy was good. "Sorry. We're just kind of getting that feeling. You don't think they were… killed in the explosion do you?"

"Who said anything about an explosion?" Morris asked, with the hint of a smile touching the corners of his lips. Now Zack knew he was trying to rattle them. The explosion was common knowledge now, and many of the guests had even checked out because of it. Moseby had almost been forced to perform an emergency evacuation.

"Kind of hard not to hear it from where we are." Zack answered coolly. Morris seemed satisfied with that answer for now. He seemed to skim over the rest of the interview, asking them questions like where they had been during the event, how long they'd lived at the Tipton, etcetera. Either he had concluded that he wasn't going to find anything he was looking for from them, or he already _had _found something. After everything had been said, he got up from his seat, and shook each of their hands in turn (he pointedly wiped his hand after he shook Cody's) while he explained a few last details. "Right now we're going to assume that Nathan is on the run with this girl he says is his niece, and that he triggered the explosion as a cover. If you hear or remember anything related to the case that you think might help, don't hesitate to call. Here's my card."

Zack took the small index card with the Lieutenant's name and number on it, and gave him a polite smile. "Will do."

Cody led him to the door, and closed it behind him. He let out a long sigh of relief before turning back to the others. "I think it's safe to say he'll be keeping an eye on us."

"We are _definitely_ on his list." Max agreed.

"I thought that went quite well." Gwen smiled. When she could see that the others didn't share her opinion, she folded her arms and scowled. "Pessimists."

"So what now?" Zack plopped back down onto the couch, glad that the ordeal was over with for now, and they could focus on Nicole again.

Cody seemed to share his brother's feelings. "I think right now, we don't know enough. No offense Gwen, but you didn't really give us a whole lot to go on. I think if we could find out more about Gabriel, we might get a better idea of how to beat him."

"Or who he's working for." Max pointed out.

"So what do you suggest?" Gwen queried.

"Well our best bet would be Magic School." Cody decided.

"Not exactly." Max spoke up. Cody was confused for a minute until she gave him a sneaky little smile.

"No." He answered flatly.

"He said we could call in a favor whenever." Max replied casually. "Who else do you know with that many demonic contacts?"

Gwen leaned closer to Zack. "Who are they talking about?"

Zack chuckled and whispered back to her. "Sykes."

"The answer is still no. I don't trust that guy. I don't care what miraculous turn around he claims to have had, he's still a crook."

"That's a load, and you know it." Max shot back. "We both know that Trevor will be faster than searching Magic school, bookworm."

"Trevor?" Cody glared in astonishment. "Since when are we on first name basis with him?"

"Since there is no _we. _Remember?" Max answered bitingly. "Now either you cooperate, or I'll go myself."

Cody clenched his fists at the thought. "You wouldn't dare." Max was glowing with white orbs before he had even finished the sentence. "Okay, okay! I'll go." The orbs vanished and Max was smiling triumphantly. "But we get in, we get what we need, and we get out. Alright?"

"Alright."

"Not alright." Cody and Max both glanced at Zack who was no longer seated. "I don't think we should just stop searching for her."

Cody's face was worried as he looked at his brother. "We're not. We just need more information. There's too many variables."

"That's not what I meant. I mean, I think we'd cover more ground if we split up. One of us has to keep looking for her. She's a witch, so I can scry for her."

"But what if you find her and Gabriel comes after you?"

"Then I'll call Max. You'll both be just an orb away. Besides, I'll Have Gwen with me, right?" He looked back to their new friend.

"Huh? Oh sure. But… I don't know how much good my powers will do against Gabriel."

"They saved us last time." Zack reminded her.

"From Nicole, and just barely. That fire of hers is strong. And I don't even think she was using her full strength. It looked more like a misfire, like it got out of control."

"That's why we _have _to find her as soon as possible. She could be in real trouble right now. She could hurt herself, and everyone within a few hundred feet of her."

Cody sighed. "All the more reason we should wait and go after them together. Gabriel's going to be tough enough, but if Nicole helps him you'd be dead meat."

"What makes you think she'd help him?"

"Did it look like she was being forced to try and barbecue us?"

"Maybe he possessed her."

"No." Gwen interrupted. "I know what possession looks like, and everything in that girl's eyes said she was doing everything of her own free will, and that includes living with him and pretending to be his niece. Besides, it didn't look like Gabriel intended for her to use her powers. He probably knows just how dangerous she is even more than we do."

Zack let out a sigh of frustration. _Thanks a lot Gwen_ he thought. "Look, all I know is that she's in serious trouble, okay? I mean _immediate_ danger. We need to at least know where she is."

Cody stared into his brother's eyes long and hard. Zack was fiery and passionate, but because of this he could usually be swayed from a rash decision if they could make him see reason. The set look of his eyes told Cody that this was not one of those times. "Alright, but you're just going to scry for her and keep tabs on her. Wait for us before you go after her, alright?"

"Alright."

"Shake on it." Cody demanded. There was a slight hesitation, but Zack slapped hands with his brother twice before knocking their elbows together and putting their hands in the air to wriggle their fingers.

"Do they always do that?" Gwen asked.

Max rolled her eyes. "You get used to it." She moved to Cody's side and held out her hand. "Ready?"

Cody sighed and put his hand in hers. "Let's get this over with."

**--Tipton Hotel, Boston, Suite 2330; 12:30 pm--**

Zack glowered at the little amethyst crystal over that continued to swing from the end of its chain aimlessly over the map in front of him on the coffee table. "I don't get it." He grimaced. "She should have come up by now. A power like that can't be too hard to lock on to."

"Gabriel's probably keeping on the move. He can be very hard to track." Gwen assured him from where she was standing over his shoulder. "Besides that, scrying is witch to witch."

"But I'm not scrying for Nathan, I'm scrying for Nicole."

"I know, but… after seeing her power I'm not so sure she _is _a witch anymore."

Zack set the crystal down. "What do you mean? She's not a demon is she?" Though demons came in all shapes and sizes, Zack just couldn't apply that term to the girl he had met. Everything about her just screamed; _innocent. _

"No I don't think so. I mean that kind of power is just… I've never felt anything like it from demon or witch. I'm starting to think she might be something… else."

"Like what?"

"I'm not sure."

Zack decided to focus on scrying, and leave Gwen's new mystery up for later. "Maybe I'll have better luck on the laptop." Zack reached for the notebook computer that had been resting underneath the coffee table.

"You can scry on a laptop?" Gwen sounded impressed, but skeptical.

"Yeah, you just jack the crystal in here," he inserted the amethyst into the laptop's ports, "Open up a GPS system, and… voila." The map on the screen began circling over the area.

"Incredible. I've never seen anything like it before."

Zack gave her a smug smile. "Yeah, Cody would like to take credit for this, but I'm pretty sure he copied it from another witch. Our friend Billie Jenkins can do the exact same thing." There was a bleep from the computer that called their attention back to the screen. The GPS had locked onto an area. "Looks like they're on Bromfield."

"Wow, it actually works."

Zack shutdown the computer and placed it back under the table. Then he go up and went to the kitchen to take the car keys off the hook. "Do you have a license? I can't drive without someone else."

"O—o—of course," Gwen stammered, "but wait, you're going after them? I thought you'd say you'd wait for Cody and Max to get back."

"Yeah right. Like I take orders from my little brother."

"But you shook on it."

Zack grinned. "I had my fingers crossed."

"But we'd just have your power to go on. I won't—"

"There's some vanquishing potion in the lower cupboard."

Gwen narrowed her hazel eyes, but there was a look of excitement in them. "Are you sure about this?"

Zack didn't have to answer. The look in his eyes said he was dead serious. He brushed past the counter and motioned for her to follow him through the door. "Come on."


	5. Chapter 5: Empathy

As you may have noticed, I've given up on writing the times already. I'm afraid I'm not very good at writing in real time. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter as well as the new character that Cody and Max are about to meet, as I poured a lot of myself into him. I also just realized that there was another character on the Suite Life named Gwen that Zack had a crush on played by Selena Gomez. As you can probably infer from her physical description, there is absolutely NO connection with that Gwen and my Gwen. Now read, enjoy, and review!

**Chapter 5: Empathy**

**--Downtown Boston--**

"Alright, remember the plan. In and out." Cody griped. It had only been moments after they had orbed to the back alley that led to where they were going, and he was already anxious to leave. One would think he was nervous about the ill reputed area of the city they were in that was putting him on edge, but both he and Max knew perfectly well that it wasn't where they were, it was who they were going to see.

"Quit whining and help me find the brick." Max set herself to the task of finding that one loose brick in the wall that would get them to where they were going. While she felt around, Cody folded his arms and leaned against it.

"I'm not whining. I just want to get back to Zack as soon as we can."

Max huffed."You really think he'd do something stupid like go after Skinny-Hulk alone?" She faced Cody to see the look on his face, and she couldn't exactly disagree. "Yeah, you're right. Let's make this quick." She felt around the brick wall of the back of the building, trying to find that one block that came loose with her fingernails. As her fingers slid along the crevices where the bricks met, she found one deeper than the others, but so discrete that one would have to feel it to know that it was any different. The naked eye was easily deceived by it. She forced her fingers a little deeper into it until she could get a firm grip. Then with little effort, she slid the brick neatly out of its slot. The moment she did, the entire wall around it faded, like a reflection on a window at first, and then vanished altogether. "He's getting better. Didn't even notice a crack this time."

"Yeah." Cody answered, not at all amused. Beyond the wall one would think would be the inside of the building, but instead the two were met with a yawning stretch of cavern, pitch black save for the daylight from the alley that illuminated the way in for only a few feet. "Shall we?" The two of them started into the "cave" with little hesitation. "Do you think he knows we're here?"

There was a clang and a whoosh off to their left, and before Cody could react, a glint of metal, a blade zoomed past him, just inches away from his face. Cody yelped and leapt back. Max giggled to his embarrassment before she gave an unneeded answer to his question. "He knows."

Cody glowered at her when he had recomposed himself. "Shut up."

"That gets you every time. You know it's just an illusion."

"I have quick reflexes." He defended.

"Was the scream a reflex too?" Max grinned at his distress.

Cody was spared further humiliation from his whitelighter by another out of place noise. A shrill cackling and gobbling sound, like a thousand demented turkeys closing in on them. A glance around them revealed that the sound was accompanied by a hundred pairs of floating yellow fiendish eyes, like something out of Snow White. They floated and jeered at them in a manner that would have terrified anyone else, but Cody and Max knew better.

"Just come out yourself, you little weasel!" Cody shouted above the shrieking, looking back and forth in the darkness for the master of these phantoms. Max held him back and moved in front of him.

"Trevor, it's us. You can come out now."

There was a sharp crack that bounced off the walls of the cave, then all at once, the shrieking stopped. The eyes vanished as if they had closed and melded into the darkness, which was retreating from their feet now. When the scene was once more lit, they found themselves not in a cave, but in what appeared to be an apartment. Judging from the tattered bean bag in the corner, the mini-fridge, the worn out couch that had probably been salvaged from the gutter, and the stereo stacked on top of the TV set which sat upon what looked like it used to be a nightstand, it was clear that this place belonged to a college kid. They heard the door close behind them, accompanied by a slurping sound. They turned around, Max a little slower and less anxious than Cody, to see who they were looking for. A tall wiry young man who looked about eighteen was bolting the door. He was dressed in simple black jeans with a tear in the knee, tucked into steel toed combat boots. Despite the warm weather outside, he wore a loose burgundy hoodie over his gray T-shirt. He turned so they could see his thin face which was pale and heavily freckled. His mud brown bangs which hung in his face had been pulled away from his blue-green eyes. The slurping they had heard had come from the Big Gulp sized soda he was still guzzling through a straw. In his hand was a grocery bag carrying six twenty-ounce bottles of cherry cola. Tucked under his arm was a twenty four pack of soda cans of the same brand. His expression was a little surprised when his eyes met theirs, and he spoke in a smooth, almost feminine voice.

"Oh hey guys. What'cha doing here?"

"You mean your illusions attacked us, and you weren't even here?!" Cody questioned back accusingly.

"What can I say? It sure beats BRINKS. So Cody, how long has it been? And your voice _still_ hasn't changed. Still a soprano I take it?"

Max smiled wide at the joke that Cody clearly didn't appreciate. "Hey Trevor."

"Maxine! You're looking as lovely as ever." He crossed the room and shifted his load so he could take Max's hand and lift it to his lips, kissing it in a very suave manner that she didn't seem to mind at all. Cody on the other hand turned a furious shade of red.

"So how have you been? How's the old gang since you guys went straight?"

"Well I'm still going to community college until I can become a vet. I see Matt from time to time. Heard that Donnie went off to Europe. And Maggie and a few of the others are going back to Magic school. Mags might even teach there. It sure is great to see you. Have a seat. Did you see, I added a couch?"

"Congratulations." Cody muttered.

"Sorry we can't relax." Max apologized sincerely. "But we're here on business. We thought you could help us."

"What?" Trevor sounded amused. "Big bad Cody Martin of the seven needs my help again?"

Cody narrowed his eyes. "This was all her idea."

"Right, right, you probably thought you could find all your answers at Magic School." Trevor didn't bother to stifle a chuckle at that. "Well have a seat anyway while I put these away. I've just been out stocking up." He moved past them to the mini-fridge and set his "groceries" down so he could open the door, revealing just about every soda known to man already sitting in there.

"Have you ever thought of putting something else in that fridge you could use, like… gee, I don't know. _Food_?"

"Psh, the only food I eat comes with fries." He loaded the sodas quickly into their place of honor that he had cleared for them and shut it delicately, so as not to fizz the goods. He stood back up and turned to face them. "Well, Trevor Sykes is at your service. What can a coke addicted Wiccan do for you today?"

Max took a seat on the couch and motioned for Cody to do the same. However, the young witch folded his arms and remained standing defiantly. Trevor paid him no mind and plopped onto the worn out maroon bean bag. Max rolled her eyes at Cody's childish behavior before turning back to Trevor. "Lets get straight to the point. What can you tell us about a demon named Gabriel."

Sykes visibly shuddered. "Steer clear. Man I didn't know you guys were into that kind of stuff. Are good witches even allowed to mess with stuff like that?"

Max and Cody exchanged glances, not following his meaning. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, that's a taboo. Not even me and my gang were dumb enough to try that."

"Hunting demons is our job." Cody said flatly. "Your old gang wouldn't know about that."

"But isn't that going a little too far? Come on Cody, you're the last person I'd think to be desperate enough to go for that."

"What are you talking about?" Cody demanded. "Do you know anything about this demon or not?"

Trevor looked confused for a moment, but understanding crossed over his features once he connected the dots. "Oh, so you're hunting a… and you think it's a… I guess that makes sense."

"What does?"

"Well… Gabriel's not a demon, per say. He used to be, a few millennia ago, when magic was first starting to come out of the darkness."

"So you do know about him?" Max asked.

"Well, it's just a bed time story, really, but yeah. The way I heard it, he used to be a powerful demon warlord who used his powers against witches, but not to kill them. He was more interested in turning them. Evil likes to kill, but it gets nothing out of it. If the good can be corrupted by it, it's just as effective, and makes them stronger. But he was vanquished by a group of good witches, one of the first covens."

Cody and Max were even more confused than they had been at the start of the story. "That doesn't make any sense! We just fought him two days ago! You can't tell me we fought an already vanquished demon."

"No I can't, but I can tell you that what you were fighting wasn't Gabriel."

Cody furrowed his brows and threw his hands up in frustration. "That doesn't make any sense either!"

"It does if you quit being rude and interrupting me. So shush puppy."

Cody gave the other witch a venomous glare and turned to Max for support. She only put a hand on her hip and held one finger to her lips. "Shh."

"Now as I was saying, Gabriel was vanquished thousands of years ago, but it's said that his spirit can be invoked from beyond the wasteland. It can possess witches and give them those weird brutal powers you've probably already seen."

Cody fought not to rub the bruise in his ribs which throbbed from the memory. "So you're saying that Nathan's a witch that's using Gabriel's spirit to fight us?"

"Most likely."

"So how does this help us?"

"It doesn't. It actually makes things a little harder for you. There's a catch to invoking Gabriel. Remember what I said about him wishing to corrupt the good when he was alive? Well that never changed. Gabriel can only be called by a _good _witch, and he can only possess them if they are willing."

Cody's jaw tightened. "But why would any good witch use an ancient evil power?"

Max answered his question. "They would if they were desperate enough."

"Exactly." Trevor said with admiration.

Cody tried running the new information over in his head. "But what would he be so desperate for? What would possibly drive him to do something so dangerous?"

"My guess would be Nicole." Max replied. "I guess technically, that would make him an innocent now."

"Not quite. We still don't know everything."

"Still, it's a good thing we didn't do anything stupid like vanquish him."

Her words triggered something in Cody's mind; a reminder of his own worries before they had come into this place. "Oh no, Zack!"

**--Bromfield Street, Boston--**

"Says right here that she should be near that diner, right there." Zack pointed first to the screen on his GPS, which had the scrying crystal jacked into its port, then to the nondescript diner just fifty yards away. "You ready for this?"

"Are you?" Gwen shot back teasingly.

Zack made a macho pose. "I'm ready for anything. That's why they call me Nasty Z."

"Who calls you that?"

Zack shrugged. "Actually it's one of the stage names I was playing with for when I'm a famous rock star. You like it?"

"Not really." Gwen answered honestly.

"Then how about, The Dark Prince of Awesome?"

"Give it a rest."

"Zackattack?"

"Not very original." Their conversation went on like that until they reached the diner. "Is she in there?"

Zack took a quick look inside through the window. "The crystal says yes, but I can't see anything from here. I'm going in. Will you be okay waiting here?"

"You're going in alone? What if Gabriel's with her?"

"He won't try anything in public. And if she's alone then both of us going in might scare her. I just need to talk to her."

Gwen's look was skeptical. "What makes you think you can get her to talk to you. I'm a school counselor. I'm trained for this."

"But she doesn't know you. She knows me. Don't worry." He licked the palm of his hand and used it to slick back his shaggy bangs. "I've got a way with the ladies."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Just go."

Zack went in while Gwen sat inconspicuously on the bench for the bus stop nearby, keeping an eye out for their target. The vials of potion remained tucked away on her person. Zack strolled to the front counter where a bored looking waitress was waiting for the next customer to seat. She was a short squat woman with short blond hair and sunken in eyes from sleep deprivation. At Zack's entrance she stood upright and gave him a smile.

"Welcome to Connie's Corner. If you could just have a seat, I'll find you a table. How many will there be in your party?"

"Actually I'm here to meet someone. Did a girl come in here?"

The woman raised her eyebrows and grinned. "Ah, come to think of it, there was a girl who came in here and said she was waiting for someone; Gangly little Latin thing with a white streak in her hair."

"That's her."

"Not very nice of you to keep a pretty little thing like her waiting. You're a slick one aren't you. So will you be ordering the Love Bird's Special?"

"What? No, I just… I mean yes." Zack corrected quickly, deciding it would be smarter to play along with the woman's assumption. "One month ago today when we met in Algebra class. Love at first sight. So where is she?"

There was a glint in the woman's eye as she moved around the counter. "Ah young love. I'll show you to your table." She lead him through the diner, mostly quiet save for the low murmur of the handful of customers. In the booth at the far corner, there she was. Her startling blue eyes were downcast at the table, though the menu in front of her was closed. That loud white streak in her otherwise night black hair was pushed behind her ear. She sat with her hands in her lap. It was a heart breaking picture.

"There you are sweetie." The woman said in a gleeful voice. "No more frowns, your man has arrived."

Nicole's gaze shot up from the menu, startled by the approach. Her eyes narrowed when they landed on Zack. The waitress didn't seem to notice as she called over another waitress, younger than her, apparently college age. "Charlene, make sure these kids are taken care of." She pulled the girl aside to whisper something in her ear. "And spit that gum out. For crying out loud, try to look professional."

"Give me a break Connie. This is the only thing that keeps me awake." She turned back to the two customers and put on the friendliest smile she could muster. "One Love Bird's Special coming right up." Nicole's face said she clearly didn't appreciate the assumption. "Well don't be shy, honey. Have a seat." Charlene nudged Zack toward the booth. He edged into it and sat down, though he didn't dare get too close to Nicole. Charlene and Connie left to get them their food. Zack couldn't think of anything to say, and he was almost grateful when she broke the silence.

"So which one of the clones are you? The smart sissy one, or the dumb jock."

"Neither. I'm the funny attractive one. I don't know where you got dumb jock from." He smiled, but Nicole didn't seem to enjoy the joke. "Look, I'm sorry for the way things happened at the hotel."

"We're going to have to move again thanks to you." She grumbled.

"To be fair, he was the one that threw my brother and my whitelighter through a wall."

"Your whitelighter shouldn't have come in the first place. You think we didn't know what you are? I've known since we came to the Tipton. You're not the first to come to us asking all your nosy little questions."

Zack could see it would take a lot to get her to open up. Even the way she sat was sending the message "back off". "You know we're just trying to help." He tried again. But her reply was as hostile as ever.

"We get along by ourselves just fine, thank you. Things would be a lot easier if you'd just back off."

"If you're so happy by yourself, why did you go to Magic School for a term?"

She didn't have an answer at first. For a while Zack thought that she'd decided to just ignore him altogether, until she growled resentfully, "It was _his _idea."

That caught him off guard. Why would a demon want to send his kidnapped surrogate to Magic School? "How long have you been with Nathan?"

Again she was silent before replying. "Since I was six. I don't really remember anything before that. I just remember running. There have always been people like you that want to take me away from him."

Zack considered his next words carefully. "Has he ever told you why?"

She paused again. It was taking her much longer than most people to trust him. Zack usually had an easy time making people around him comfortable. His personality was infectious that way. "No. Only that he just wants what's best for me, and that means we have to stay together." She hissed suddenly and put a hand to her forehead, as though seized by a horrible migraine.

"What is it?"

She pointed across the diner where another couple sat. The woman had risen from her seat after apparently having slapped her date. She threw the pay for her half of the meal onto the table before gathering her purse and storming out of the diner. The man was left rubbing his cheek in bewilderment. Once the woman had left, Nicole relaxed. "That happens a lot. I can't really understand it. Whenever someone gets angry, I get angry. But… it's different when I do. It hurts." She drank hastily from the glass of water Charlene had brought her earlier. "I feel that almost everywhere I go. I thought it was another power, like my fire. But Nathan doesn't know what it is. He can't explain it."

But Zack knew what this was. Phoebe had once been able to do this. "What do you feel now?"

"Nothing. It's pretty numb in here."

That made sense. The other customers seemed pretty content with their meals, their minds not on anything too unpleasant with food and friends nearby. "You're an empath."

Nicole furrowed her brows. "A what?"

"You have the power of Empathy. It's a pretty rare power. It lets you feel the emotions of other people around you. I knew a witch named Phoebe who could do the same thing."

She still looked confused. "But all I can ever feel is anger. The only time I'm really free of it is when I'm asleep. I can feel it almost everywhere I go."

"Anger is a pretty strong emotion. And something tells me you're pretty familiar with it. It's probably the only emotion that can get through to you while you're rejecting your gift."

"I'm not rejecting anything. I don't even know what it is." She said defensively.

"Not that you're doing it on purpose." Zack corrected himself quickly. "It's just that you haven't really practiced with it, so it hasn't developed. Once you get used to it, the good feelings will balance the bad ones out. At least that's how Phoebe would tell it. She used to kick serious butt with that power."

"Used to?" Nicole's eyes were a little fearful at the implication.

"Oh no, it's nothing like that." Maybe he wasn't as good at this as he thought. So far he'd gotten her to go from angry, to really angry, to scared out of her mind. "She just kind of lost that power. The Elders had it taken away from her or something like that."

She didn't have anything to say to that, but the fear seemed to have faded. "So you mean I can feel other things from people if I tried?"

"Let's find out." He held out his hands to her. "What do you feel from me?"

She eyed his hands warily, but curiosity seemed to win out over suspicion. She placed the palms of her hands over his and closed her eyes, scrunching them in concentration. "Nothing yet… Well it's faint."

"What do you think it is?"

"I don't know. I think I've felt it before, but it's too weak right now, so I can't be sure. But it feels like it could be really strong if it's triggered."

This caught him off guard. He'd only been projecting the feeling he got from anticipating the food they were still waiting for, since it smelled delicious. It shouldn't be that hard for her to identify. But she sounded like she was speaking of something else entirely. But he didn't have long to wonder. Charlene came back to their table with a tray of food. It held two servings of mashed potatoes and mixed fruit. In the center was one serving of spaghetti and meatballs that looked big enough for both of them. He wondered why they had only brought one plate, but then he remembered that they had ordered the "Lovebird's Special", and his mind flashed back to a certain Disney movie. These people had an odd sense of humor.

"Enjoy, sugar." Charlene winked at him and headed back to the kitchen.

The food suddenly reminded Nicole why they were here and she shot him a scowl. "I just remembered, I'm not very hungry." She made to get up, but an audible gurgling from her stomach gave her away. She glared sourly at Zack's smug expression before sitting back down. "Just until Nathan gets here."

"Fine. I don't think I can eat it all anyway. How do you feel about going Dutch on this one?"

This time she couldn't fight the smile that twitched at the corners of her lips. Once they started eating, he was amazed at how easily she slipped into conversation with him. He focused on keeping her comfortable for the most part, like asking her what she was into, if she liked sports, and she'd ask him about what it was like to do what him and his brother did. She sounded a little impressed to learn that he knew the Charmed Ones. But every now and then he'd feel brave enough to probe her with a deeper question if he felt like she wouldn't get upset and run out.

"So you really don't remember anything about where you lived before?"

"Nothing. Nathan doesn't like to talk about it. But… sometimes when I'm asleep… I have this dream."

Zack remained attentive. "Dream? What kind of dream?"

"Well it feels… more like a memory. But Nathan says it's just a nightmare. In it, I'm looking up at someone, like I'm being held. He's a man with dark hair and a dark beard. And he has this frightening hungry look in his eyes. But I never feel afraid of him. Because he's not the one holding me. I can't see who is, but I feel very safe with them. And warm. But Nathan's probably right. It's probably just a nightmare."

Zack shook his head. "That sounds a little too specific to be just a dream. Besides, Phoebe always says that every dream has some kind of meaning."

"So, basketball pro, extreme skateboarder, fire starting witch, and a psychiatrist? Is there anything you can't do?" She smiled wryly.

He blushed a little at the compliment. "Nope. I pretty much walk on water." He was a little annoyed to find that his cell phone was going off. He reached into his jean pocket to find a text message from Cody. That was odd. Cody hated to text. It must be urgent. He opened it and his mouth tightened into a hard line. The message read: "Help. Bck Ally." Help, back alley? Now he knew it was an emergency. It wasn't like Cody to make any kind of spelling error. Even when he was forced to text, he always wrote in complete perfect sentences. It drove Zack crazy. He snapped his phone shut and stuffed it back into his pocket, pulling out a twenty for their food. He grabbed Nicole's hand and started to lead her out. "Come on."

"What is it?"

"Got to go save my baby brother."


	6. Chapter 6: Bad Blood

A/N: Well, it's the sixth chapter, and only three reviews. Not that I'm complaining, I'm just surprised, considering how many people asked me to write a sequel. Then again, this one does have a pretty different mood to it than the first. But I'm not the kind of person to stop writing over something like that. YOU CAN'T SILENCE ME!!

**Chapter 6: Bad Blood**

"Gwen, are you alright?" Cody helped the other witch to her feet hastily.

"I'm fine. But—Look out!" The two of them quickly dived out of the way of Gabriel's fist. The demon's lunge was stopped short by a bolt of purple lightning from Max's athame, but this only served to direct his anger at her now. In a charge of blind rage he swung his clawed hand at her, clipping the side of her face. She flew off her feet across the alley to collide with a metal dumpster. She landed in a heap. Gabriel ducked just in time to avoid being struck in the face by Trevor's boot. He retaliated quickly, grabbing Trevor by the wrist and twisting his arm behind him. Thankfully, Cody's telekinesis was enough to throw the mad demon off of him.

Trevor sidestepped with grace. "Thanks for that."

"Can you distract him at all?"

"Afraid not. His mind is blocking my glamours, and he's dodging all my darts."

A fireball whizzed past them, aimed for Gabriel as he moved for Gwen again. His sixth sense allowed him to dodge it, but barely. He looked towards the mouth of the alley with his furious black eyes. Zack stood at the entrance with hand raised, and Nicole at his side. Gabriel's confusion at Nicole's presence was enough of a distraction. Cody flung his hand, throwing the demon into the brick wall with as much strength as he could muster.

Nicole's blue eyes widened in horror at watching her guardian thrown with such force. But then her expression hardened into anger. Blue flames erupted in her palms as she thrust them into Zack's side. The attack hurled him to the ground, rolling desperately to extinguish the flames. He looked back up at Nicole with confusion, but she called him out with venom in her voice. "This whole thing was a setup?! You were just distracting me to get to him?! I'll… I'll KILL you for this!" Her clenched fists flared once more with those strange blue flames. The fire spread from her hands to her forearms and further, until her arms were ablaze with blue from her shoulders down. But before she could take a step, she was seized around the waist.

"That's enough Nikole. Let's get out of here." Nathan was already behind her. His eyes were once again their normal color, and his veins no longer bulged black along his arms. His voice was more level as well. Nicole squirmed in his grasp, but soon relented. The fire faded and she closed her eyes with exhaustion.

Zack staggered back to his feet, his skin still searing from the pain of the girl's assault. "Wait!" He lunged for the demon and his captive, but too late. Nathan glared at the boy before he and Nicole's image blurred like a reflection on rippling water before they shimmered out completely. Zack fell back to the earth out of the alley and onto the sidewalk. He beat the ground with his fist and cursed himself for being too slow. He jumped back to his feet, holding his side from the pain that ensued. "Someone want to tell me how this got screwed up?!"

Cody rounded on his brother. "Probably because you decided to barrel off on your own! We plan things out for a reason Zack!

"I'm afraid it was my fault." Gwen interjected meekly. "I caught sight of him and followed him in here. He must have spotted me before though, because he purposely led me in here to attack me from behind. If Cody and Max hadn't gotten here when they did…"

Zack's expression softened. He couldn't really blame her. He'd fallen into his share of demonic traps in the past. "It's not your fault. But I don't think she's exactly going to be warming up to us after this." His mind recalled the fierceness Nicole had protected Nathan with only moments ago. She actually believed he was her protector. He had manipulated her for ten years, and now she was willing to give it her all to protect him from harm. And that thought made him angrier than he had been in years. The thin pink, almost invisible scar on his cheek throbbed with his rage. He had received it from a darklighter, in a time that seemed very long ago now. And since then it had remained to remind him why he did this. Why he and his brother were witches. To protect innocents like Nicole from monsters like Gabriel.

Max faltered back to her feet, holding a hand to her head. "I say we go back to the Suite for now and get your injuries healed up." She nearly stumbled over and Cody moved to catch her, but Trevor was faster. She fell straight into his arms.

He smiled at her with his insufferable grin that made Cody want to smack it right off. "Take it easy. I think we should worry more about _your_ injuries for now. We can tough ours out."

Max tried to shake him off. "I'm fine. I'm just a little bumped up. I've had worse."

"Still," Cody inferred, "it might be better to take a cab than for you to try and orb us."

She glowered. "With what money?"

Gwen ignored the quarrel and strode over to where Zack was standing. She gave him a reassuring smile and patted his arm. "Don't worry. We'll find her. It's what we do right?"

While he appreciated her comfort, he couldn't shake the horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach. They had come so close. If they could have just planned things out a little better. If Cody had agreed to go with them to find her in the first place instead of wasting time at Trevor's loft.

Gwen ran her hand down his arm soothingly until she reached his hand. She looked down at his fingers curiously. "What's this?"

Zack looked down at his hand to see what she was talking about. There, intertwined between his fingers was several strands of mud brown hair. In that one desperate lunge he had made to reach Nathan and Nicole, he must have caught hold of that long brown ponytail before they had vanished completely. He looked at the others to make sure they weren't looking before he hastily stuffed the strands of hair into his jean pocket. At least this hadn't been a total loss.

**--Tipton Hotel Boston, Suite 2330--**

"So you're telling us that Nathan is a _good _witch who's been willingly possessed?" Gwen asked. "I never read that about Gabriel."

"I say it's a load of crap." Zack grimaced.

Cody gave him an icy stare, still unhappy that he had chosen to rebel yet again and put himself and others in danger. "Too bad you got a D in history, otherwise we might care what you had to say about this."

Trevor, seated lazily on the couch, a half finished can of cherry coke in one hand, made a thrusting motion with his fist. "Zing."

"I think our best bet right now is a dispossession potion." Cody surmised.

But Zack was persistent. "And I say we just vanquish him! I'm not letting him get away with brainwashing her to use her as some sick wespon!"

"Zack, you're not the judge, jury, and executioner here!"

"Guys, cut it out." Max had decided it was time to step in as their whitelighter. "Look Zack, what do we really know about him? Only that Nicole's been with him since she was six, and that they've been on the run most of that time. We also know that Gabriel can only possess a willing _good _witch. So far the odds are stacked in favor of him being an innocent that we need to save."

Gwen put a comforting hand on Zack's shoulder. "I'm with them on this one. Nathan scares me, but he might be just as afraid of us. I didn't give you all the information because this is all news to me too. Gabriel is the demon, and the dispossessor potion vanquishes him without hurting Nathan."

Zack grimaced, but broke his angry stare down with his brother in surrender, having nothing else to say.

"So what's the plan now?" Trevor asked, not paying too much attention to the conversation. It wasn't until then that Zack noticed him playing with something in his hands; a small leather wallet.

"Where'd you get that?" he asked, reaching for it.

"This? Oh, I got it when he tackled me." Trevor explained, handing it to him. "Old habits die hard I guess."

Zack opened it and scanned its contents briefly. No money, but there were several forms of identification, none of them with the same last name. There were even a few for Nicole. He listed off the names in his head; Nathan Richards, Nathan Montana, Nathan Callaway, Nathan Matthews, Nathan… the last name on the oldest driver's license almost made him drop the wallet. That name couldn't just be a coincidence. The identification plainly read in bold letters; **Nathan Tate**.

"All the proof you need right here." He nearly tore the wallet apart trying to get the license to show the others. "Nathan Tate. It's his real name. Ring any bells?"

Cody looked at the license and knit his brows together. "As in Matthew Tate?"

Max looked from the card and then to Zack. "You think they could be related?"

Cody shook his head. "That's not possible. I thought Matthew Tate didn't have any kids. How could he have when Melinda Warren trapped him in that locket those hundreds of years ago?" Matthew Tate had been a warlock who had seduced Melinda Warren, the matriarch of the Halliwell line who had created the Book of Shadows during the witch trials, into sharing her powers. Her coven (which included their own ancestor Eva Proctor) had been involved in a major battle against The Source of All Evil. But Matthew Tate had weaseled his way into their circle, seduced Melinda, learned their plans, and betrayed them, resulting in The Source's victory and Melinda's capture by witch hunters to be burned at the stake. Out of revenge for herself and her coven, Melinda had him trapped in the very locket he had given her for all eternity. "Sykes, do you know anything about this?"

Trevor brushed his bangs out of his face. There was a dark look on his face. "The Tate's are like the mafia of the magical world. They're a family of witches and warlocks that are into organized crime both magical and mortal. Not sure if they have anything to do with the warlock you're talking about though."

"That's all the proof we need." Zack declared again. "Bad blood. He's probably as bad as the rest of them."

"That's not always the case. For all we know, he's running from them." Max reasoned.

Gwen put a pale finger to her chin in thought "That could explain why he pulled her out of magic school so quickly. Now that you mention, I think I remember the one of the teachers, Miss Donovan saying something about someone coming and asking questions about Nicole. Nathan probably got wind of it and took off with her again."

Cody thought for a moment. "Gwen, who exactly put you on the case to track Nicole?"

"Someone from administration as soon as her whitelighter went missing." She answered. "But I never saw them in person. It was just one of the case files in my desk that caught my interest. When I found out about Gabriel, The Elders referred me to you."

"She never said anything about having a whitelighter." Zack recalled from his earlier conversation with her.

Gwen's hazel eyes were wide now, realizing just what the twins were implicating. "You think I was set up?"

"That sounds like their style." Trevor agreed. "They like to use the system, exploiting every loophole to keep their hands clean, at least on paper. Nathan technically isn't her guardian. They could've made a claim, patched it through the files at Magic school, and then to you. I doubt Nathan bothered with the paper work before he pulled her out."

"So all this time… I've been trying to get Nicole back… only to bring her to the real villains?" There was hurt, but also anger in her voice. Clearly Gwen did _not _like to be used.

"We can sort this all out later." Cody took charge again. "But right now we have a potion to make, and two innocents to find."

"If he really _is_ innocent." Zack reminded them. Cody looked like he was about to argue, but Zack cut him off. "We still don't know Nathan's running from the Tates. He could still be in the family business for all we know."

"But like I said, we can sort it out later. Gwen, could you start scrying? I'll make the potion. Zack, could you get me the ingredients?" Zack said nothing, but made his way grudgingly to the kitchen. Cody turned back to Trevor. "You can still back out of this you know. If we're going up against 'The Mob' of the magical world I wouldn't blame you."

Trevor shot him a sly smile. "Still trying to get rid of me I see. I wouldn't dream of ducking out of an adventure like this. And I have the whole summer free. Besides," he stretched his arms across the couch in a laid back manner, "What kind of gentleman would I be if I turned tail and left these lovely young ladies to do the work." He reached for the coffee table and took a sip from his third can of cherry coke since he'd been in their suite. If he was nervous, he certainly didn't show it.

"And what about you Gwen?"

She looked up at him, the look on her face stating plainly that she was shocked he'd even have to ask. "I've been chasing these two all over the country for three months now, and you honestly think I'd back down now that we have good reason to think that she's in more danger then ever?" She reached for the laptop under the coffee table and booted it up. "Besides," she added, pulling the amethyst crystal out of the same bag where they kept the hook up cables, "no one makes _me _a pawn." She jammed the crystal into the port so hard, Cody was surprised she didn't break it.

The suite was soon alive with activity. Gwen was scrying with the laptop with intense focus. She had picked up on the system surprisingly fast. Meanwhile Max sharpened her athame, every now and then giving it a practice swing. Purple sparks of electricity would emit from the blade every time she did. It amazed her how easily she was able to use the technique now, considering who had given it to her. Cody had the potion-set out while Zack brought him the ingredients he asked for. Potions were Cody's strength, while Zack was better at writing spells. He had their mother's gift for rhyming. They had also both grown exceptionally gifted at combat, but Cody drew that from his powers, whereas Zack had learned it the hard way, training with Phoebe. As a result he had technique as well as instinct.

With the others thrown into their tasks (to Trevor this meant finishing his coke) they were too busy to notice what Zack was doing. While his brother was distracted with mixing the dispossessor potion, he took out some of the other vials they kept—the bottles of vanquishing potion. They were very basic, and would work on lesser demons, but against the stronger kind they were about as effective as a powerful, but poorly aimed hand grenade. It could wound them, but not kill them. But if a certain ingredient were to be added, a sample from the demon itself, they became one hundred percent lethal to them. Making sure no one could see what he was doing, Zack reached into his pocket for those strands of hair he had snatched from the alley. As quietly as possible, he popped the corks of three of the vials, one for each strand, and slid them into the potions. They hissed and the orange liquid turned a violent red color. He checked to see if the others had heard. They hadn't. 

He took the vials from the cupboard and slid them into his pocket before grabbing the ginger root and handing it to Cody. He patted the items in his pocket, as if to remind himself that they were still there, and thought to himself, _"Just in case."_


	7. Chapter 7: Backfire

A/N: Howdy y'all. Just thought I'd clear the air about the two complaints I received recently. The first is what happened between Cody and Max. Nothing to say to that really other than read and find out! The second is the lack of Charmed characters in this one. I promise I do have a legitimate reason for not involving the Charmed Ones in the main story. To be quite frank, this story takes place after the final season. The Charmed Ones are retired. There is no more story to tell in that department. They've already gone through eight years of that life, and as a reward they can finally kick back and live out their days peacefully with their family. This story is about Zack and Cody, and their own adventures with their own personal struggles, and their own nemesis... oops did I just give something away? But I did stick Darryl in this one. I could get away with that because all that was said about him after he left the show was that he and his family had relocated to the east coast. Anyway, I'm sorry if I disappointed anybody on that one, but I just couldn't do it. Anyway, enjoy the chapter. No ownership, no profit, please review. Pretty please with barbecue sauce on top? I'd really like to know how I'm doing on the action sequences since they're not really my forte.

**Chapter 7: Backfire**

Nicole started awake, her blue eyes darting all around the car. Nathan put a hand on her shoulder to sooth her. "It's okay. You're safe now." He returned his eyes to the road, though it was hardly necessary. His sixth sense was enough to keep them out of an accident.

She sat up and rubbed her eyes. The sun had sunk low in the sky now, making it a soft lavender color. "So who'd you get the car from?"

"You don't have to stay awake." He told her, changing the subject. "I know it's painful for you to drive down highways.

"It's alright. I think I can handle it now." She replied. She tried to remember what she had just learned about her condition, that it might actually be another witch power. Desperately she searched the aura of the busy road they were traveling down. In the middle of all this road rage she was feeling there had to be something, someone who wasn't angry, a sleeping baby, a teenager with headphones, a guy actually looking forward to an evening with his wife, anything. She had thought it would be much harder than it actually was, but once she reached for it she was surprised at how naturally she took to it. Then she recalled just who had given her this new revelation and her peace hardened into anger again. But it wasn't painful because this time it was hers. The very thought of that blue eyed face with the shaggy mop of blond hair filled her with rage that could swallow the anger on this highway around her and still have room.

Nathan seemed to notice her silence, and probably guessed what brought it on. "So what did you and the boy talk about at the diner?"

She sighed. "Nothing much. Just the whole 'I'm trying to help you' load that they give everyone." There were many details she was leaving out. Like the fact that she had actually enjoyed herself. She was a little ashamed to admit that she had fallen into his hands so easily when all he had really wanted was a crack at the one person in her life who had really cared for her.

"Anything else?" She didn't answer. "You've never been good at hiding things Nikole."

"I told him about my… condition."

"You mean your headakhes?" Again she was silent. "And?"

"He told me a pretty interesting theory. Have you ever heard of… empathy?"

He thought for a moment. "Bits and pieces, but it's not a familiar koncept to me. He thinks… that's what's kausing your migraines?"

"Yeah. He even gave me a way to cope with it. He said if I find some good emotions to focus on, it'll balance the bad ones out."

"Has it worked so far?"

She hesitated. "So far." The face in her head seemed smug now. She just couldn't stay angry at him for long, though she didn't understand why. She had always found him annoying when they'd lived at the Tipton, and his brother had always struck her as whiny. And that lamprey of a girl that always hung out with them was naggy enough to be their mother. But now that she knew Max to be their whitelighter, this made sense. But hate just wasn't a word she could apply to them. Especially Zack. That entire time she had been with him in the diner he had seemed so sincere. "Nathan… do you really think those boys are with them?"

Nathan's face hardened as he remained focused on the road. He had never told her much about the people who were chasing them. Only that they were dangerous, and they were everywhere. "No I don't. But there's not a doubt in my mind that they're being used."

"What makes you so sure?"

"It wouldn't be the first time they used good witches to do their dirty work. You don't understand Nikole. The people we're running from are ruthless, and kunning. I'm not taking any chances. Not this time."

"But what if they can help us?"

"Help us what?"

Nicole was hesitant to answer, knowing full well what his reaction would be. "Fight back of course."

Nathan looked away from the road again, keeping the car on course with little difficulty. "No. That's not an option. I've told you before, that's exactly what they'd want you for. You'd just be a pair of fists to them. I left that life because I wanted something better for you, you hear me?"

"But—"

"End of diskussion. We're not talking about this anymore."

She didn't argue further. She knew all Nathan wanted was what was best for her. That's why he had enrolled her in Magic School, however brief that had been.

After a while the traffic began to thin out. That was never a good sign. Whenever they were alone where they couldn't blend in with the public, they were the most vulnerable. It was where their enemies could attack without the risk of exposure. Nicole's intuition was proven right. The car jolted violently, and she could hear hissing from the outside--air escaping the tires rapidly. Nathan swerved onto the shoulder of the road until the vehicle screeched to a stop. She could see the Charles River was at their backs, and to their other side, a non descript Nissan came to a stop. They were cut off. Nathan pounded the steering wheel and swore under his breath. His ice colored eyes were already turning black, as were the veins along his arms.

"They found us."

**--Boston, Near the Charles River--**

The four witches plus one whitelighter crammed in Trevor's Nissan watched the stolen Honda Civic swerve out of control and come to rest on the shoulder of the road, seconds before tumbling down the edge where the banks of the Charles awaited. The other four passengers in the car looked at the driver in shock.

"What?" Trevor said defensively. "Don't look at me! My hands have been on the steering wheel the entire time!"

Cody tried to argue that point. "But you reached for something just a second—"

"Ah-hem." Trevor held up the one-liter bottle of cherry coke that had been resting in the cup holder to explain his actions. "When was the last time you drove? It's exhausting!" He pulled the car to a stop near the edge of the road. They heard a door slam and weren't at all surprised to see that Nathan had already called on his inner demon. They hastily piled out of the car, not wanting to see what he could do to it while trying to get to them.

"I should have known it was you." Gabriel growled.

"It wasn't us, I promise." Trevor put his hands up instinctively.

"Really? Then why do you kut me off from the road." His total black gaze swept over them, searching for something. "And I see you brought potions."

"We didn't come here to fight." Cody tried to reason.

"Speak for yourself." Zack huffed, his hand twitching anxiously, ready to dive for the potions in his pocket at a moment's notice.

"Shut up Zack." Max muttered under her breath, but he was beyond reasoning now. On the other side of the car, peeking over its roof, probably trying to keep a far distance away from the anger that was rolling off the gathering in waves, he could see Nicole's frightened blue eyes. But they too became furious when they landed on Zack. Now he hated Nathan more than ever. He knew he couldn't kill him with Nicole watching. She'd been through enough and seeing Nathan vanquished would very likely destroy her. He made a mental note to use the potions only as a last resort.

"So," Gabriel continued to scrutinize the group, "if you didn't fire on my kar, than who did?"

"That would be us." His answer came from a voice further off, from someone who had apparently hidden himself in the shrubs. He spoke in a nasally arrogant voice that rang with a familiar accent. "Miss us Kousin?" A gaunt man emerged from the shadows where he had been hiding in the vegetation—a sniper's position. He was a little taller than Nathan, and far thinner. His appearance made him look half starved. He had mousy brown hair and a hooked nose, and he was holding up his finger from which a tendril of smoke writhed in the air.

A second, rougher voice came from somewhere else as a second man blinked into existence behind the first with a sharp tearing sound, like someone ripping vinyl apart. It was quick. First he wasn't there, and then he was, in the blink of an eye. "Good to see you again. Kan't believe it's been ten years." Although his tone and angry expression suggested he wasn't happy about this reunion in the slightest. He was a compact man with bulking muscles and close cropped black hair and a rough unshaven goatee.

Nathan shifted slightly to look the newcomers in the eye. "Thomas, Rourke. Where's your leash holder?"

A blink signaled the arrival of a slender woman, shorter than the men. She smiled wickedly and tossed her light blond hair out of her face. "Right here. You're looking as ragged as ever Nathan. Motherhood dragging you down?" The woman who spoke looked very much like a demented Barbie doll with her honey colored hair, full red lips, and slender limbs, though she was a little short for the part.

"Yours is a face I kould never miss, Rose." Nathan snarled. "Looks like you brought Tituba with you as well. You mean the old hag kan live without her mute slave for awhile? Abigail must really want me dead."

At first Zack couldn't see who Nathan was referring too. He craned his neck to catch a glimpse of a slight African American girl with her black hair tied into a multitude of small braids which were pulled back, making her prominent cheekbones stick out even more than they would have normally. Had she not looked so serious, she would have appeared no older than eighteen. But her face was blank and doll like. She didn't even react to Nathan's insult. Her simple black short skirt and tank top hinted at her lower station than that of the other three.

Rose tossed her golden hair back and cackled in her high soprano. "Don't flatter yourself, demon wannabe. Your ward is all she kares about. Where is the little beauty anyway?"

For the first time since the newcomer's arrival, Zack returned his gaze to Nicole, and he came to a horrible realization. The other witches, who he now knew to be his enemies, were closer to her than him and the others were. Even Nathan was distanced as he'd been preparing himself to defend her from the wrong group. All four of their enemies gazed at her with a hungry look in their eyes.

"So that's the little treasure you turned on your heritage for." Rose mused.

"Doesn't look like much to me." Rourke grumbled.

"Looks kan often be deceiving." Rose replied, not taking her eyes off of Nicole for an instant.

Thomas' shifty gaze was the first to land on Zack and the others. "I see you brought friends. More children I see."

"No friends of mine." Nathan scowled. "But I'd be warned. The blond ones are part of The Seven."

How did he know that? Zack had never mentioned that to Nicole. But he had mentioned Phoebe. Of course. She was clever. She probably made the connection seconds into their conversation at the diner, and she wouldn't have hesitated to tell him. But why would Nathan tell this group that? Was this a setup? The three in front shifted their attention to the others.

"Ah, I see." Rose smiled her sadistic eerie smile.

"Shall we see if their power kan stand up to that of the Tate's?" Thomas seemed to tense with excitement.

"Steady." Rose cautioned. "Abigail would want to speak with them. What a waste it would be to kill someone who kould have been a valuable asset to us."

Zack connected the dots. This _was _a setup. Nathan was trying to distract them with different bait. He was going to get both groups of pursuers to tangle with each other to give himself enough time to take Nicole and escape. He leaned towards Gwen and whispered without taking his eyes off the others. She had mentioned a trick she learned from her time at Magic school. He spoke so that the others would hear but not their opponents. "Gwen, can you get a read on their powers?"

Gwen focused. "The skinny one is a sharpshooter. But I'm assuming that they all know how to conjure energy balls. He's the fastest. The big one is the toughest. But he's all muscle. I think he's some kind of shape shifter, but it has more to do with his density than changing form. He can either become as hard as a boulder, or hollow enough to walk through a wall. I can't get any reads on Tituba except for Levitation. But she probably knows how to get physical in a fight. Rose is the most dangerous. On top of basic offense, like energy balls, electrical charges, and blade conjuring, she can confuse the senses. It's like Nathan's sixth sense, but she can extend it to effect other people. And I wouldn't be surprised if they all have formal combat training in hand-to-hand."

Once Gwen was through with her analysis, Cody went right into strategizing, much to his brother's annoyance. "Alright, Gwen, do you think you can deflect Rose's power?"

"I think so."

"Then you and Sykes will take her. Sykes, try to counter her power with your illusions."

Trevor nodded. "Got it."

"Max, you take Rourke. You'll be able to orb and keep out of his way. Zack, you're the best fighter. You take Thomas. My power should put me on even grounds with Tituba, so she's mine."

Zack clenched his fists as Cody finished the battle plan. There weren't enough of them. If the plan was going to work, there focus would be off of Nathan, and by the time they got out of it, he and Nicole will have been long gone. He bit his lip and nodded in silent agreement to his brother's plan. But he dropped his voice again so only Gwen, the closest one to him, and most likely to go along with his idea, could hear. "Gwen, how long do you think Rose would be distracted once you deflect her power at her?"

"Not long. Why?"

"You can deflect Thomas' darts too, right?"

"Of course. Where are you going with this?"

"Once Rose is down, do you think you could cover Thomas for me? I think Nathan is trying to distract us so he can make a run for it. Are you up for it?" He looked back at her briefly, his gaze telling her that she didn't have to put herself in more danger than was necessary if she didn't want to.

"Yes. I was thinking the same thing. Once Rose is down, I'll leave her to Trevor. I still have the potions you gave me in case something goes wrong." She'd never know how grateful he was for the chance she was giving him.

One of their opponent's spoke again, pulling their thoughts back to the matter at hand. "I don't think Abigail would be interested." Thomas answered Rose's suggestion. "If they really are part of The Seven that would either make them Warrens, or Proktors." Zack and Cody's ancestor Eva Proctor had been the Charmed Ones' ancestor, Melinda Warren's caretaker when she was young. She also became her right hand in her coven and had been involved in that battle against The Source. And from what he'd gathered, Zack believed she may have had a hand in Matthew Tate's imprisonment. It made sense that his descendants would harbor a grudge. The Tates moved into position, confirming Gwen's assumption that they had training. Zack recognized that each one's posture was that of a fighting stance.

"So," Rose spoke again, "Are we right to assume that you're here for the girl as well?"

"You assume right." Max glowered, drawing her athame from where it was strapped to her back, hidden beneath her top.

"Oooh, the whitelighter's armed. How kute." Rose motioned with her hand for the other two to move in. Rourke and Thomas took positions in front of her while Tituba remained as still as a portrait. "I'm looking forward to this." She raised her hand once more and snapped her finger, then several things happened at once. A white energy dart from Thomas' fingertip flew towards Max, only to be met with one of Zack's fireballs. Max wasted no time, diving toward Rourke who turned out to be faster than he looked. He and Max were dodging each other's strikes both unable to land a hit on the other. Tituba surprised them with a sudden movement, leaping into the air and landing on Trevor, knocking him to the ground. As Gwen had predicted, she was a highly skilled martial artist. Once Trevor was down, she spun a kick towards Gwen, while at the same time, blocking a punch from Cody. She grabbed his wrist and swung him into Gwen, nearly toppling them both. Zack was ready to move for Nathan, but with Trevor down and Gwen distracted, this left Rose completely free. Zack turned, but found that his eyes couldn't focus, darting in all directions and making his surroundings spin. His ears were ringing and his stomach felt as though it was going to empty itself at any moment. If his eyes could stay on one thing at a time, he would've seen Thomas pointing his index finger at his head while Rose looked on with glee.

Thomas cocked the dart in his finger which glowed white. However, he wasted too much time grinning over the helplessness of his prey, and was unable to get out of Tituba's way fast enough as Cody's telekinesis threw her backwards into him. Gwen jumped in front of Zack and threw her hand up. That same spinning white disc of energy, like an ethereal mirror, spun in front of her palm. She directed its surface at Rose's face. The blond witch's smile cracked and she recoiled in pain and confusion as her own power was thrown right back at her. Gwen turned around and hoisted Zack to his feet. She was stronger than she looked. "Go! He's already making a run for it!"

Starting to come to his senses, he stole a glance down the highway to find that she was right. Nathan was sprinting back the way they had come, taking Nicole by the hand. She was undoubtedly the only reason he hadn't vanished completely. Her sickness from all the anger in the air probably had her reeling. But why wasn't he shimmering to get them out? He didn't wonder about it too long. He took off after them. He stole a glance back for an instant to see if Gwen was holding her own. She still seemed to be focusing her deflection on Rose, who remained useless. She threw her other hand up just in time to deflect another of Thomas' dart, as he rose back to his feet. He managed to jump out of the way, but this put him right in the way of Gwen's foot. She aimed low, putting him back on the ground without mercy. Then, before Rose could get back up, Gwen had her deflection back on her. Trevor had gotten back to his feet and was helping Max against Rourke. But each time they managed to land a hit on him, their blows went right through him, or bounced off of his toughened hide. Tituba was proving to be more than a handful for Cody, leaping around as lithely as a nymph. Had he had time to look closer, he would have noticed that she wore no shoes. Her feet were clad only in knee-high white stockings.

But Zack's eyes were back on the two escaping. He was slowly but surely closing the distance between them. Nicole's headache made her to trip once again, forcing her to her knees. She would have gone down completely if Nathan hadn't caught her. But this slowed them enough to give Zack his chance. He really had to focus on this technique. Projecting fire was much harder than conjuring it from your body. But he was ready for this. The entire width of the road before them suddenly went up in flames. Nathan looked back in fury from the wall of fire to the young witch who had finally caught up with them.

Zack's fists were clenched at his sides. "Going somewhere?" His stomach tied itself in knots as Nathan's icy blue eyes darkened into glassy black orbs again, but he kept his face hard.

"If you kare about her at all, you'll let us pass."

"You're still trying to play the good guy? Nice try, but I've been in this game for three years now, and I know good witches don't run from other good witches, especially when they're fighting bad ones. I don't care what you are anymore, demon, witch, warlock; I still know Nicole doesn't belong with you."

Nicole got back to her feet, her stare as furious as Nathan's now. "I think that's for me to decide."

Zack tried to soften his voice, but he was beyond reasoning with her now. "Nicole, he's lied to you and manipulated you for ten years. I've held back because I know you care about him, but no matter how you look at it, you don't belong with him. Stop letting him control you."

"No one controls me! I don't belong to anyone! I'm with Nathan because I choose to be!"

Nathan stepped in front of her once more. "Whatever opinion you have of me doesn't matter right now. What matters is that whatever you think I've been doing to her, is nothing kompared to what they have in mind for her." He pointed back towards the battle, but Zack wasn't falling for it. He kept his eyes on his target, his fingers drifting dangerously close to the pocket where the red vanquishing potions were kept. He knew he only had one shot at this. Maybe if he could keep him talking, it'd be enough of a distraction to slow his sixth sense.

"If you're so interested in protecting her, why aren't you helping us fight those lunatics back there? Family ties?"

"Hardly. But those four are just a few of many. The Tate line's influence is vast, both in the magikal and the mortal world. By getting yourselves involved, you and your friends have likely marked yourselves for death. Especially you and your brother, konsidering your family history. There will probably be a hit put out on you in less than a week."

"And I wonder who we have to thank for that." Zack said bitingly. He returned his attention to Nicole. "Still think he's the good guy?" Nicole didn't move, but Nathan's eyes cooled to their original color, and the bulging black veins along his arms retracted. Zack's mouth twitched into a grin of satisfaction that his words had struck a nerve. It was now or never. He couldn't enhance his speed like Cody could, but he was fast enough to whip the potion out before either of them knew what was happening. He'd fling it at Nathan and dive for Nicole to clear her from the explosion. Wherever she went after that didn't matter. At least she'd be free of him. He clasped his fingers around the vial in his pocket. In one movement he whipped it out and cocked his hand back to throw.

The blast threw all three of them off their feet. Zack landed on the pavement hard. He could feel blood trickling down the side of his face, and his body felt like he had been rubbed over with hot coals. He tried to get to his feet, but all he could do at the moment was crawl. His legs just hadn't remembered themselves yet. His hand brushed something soft in front of him. At first glance it might have been a black cat lying on the road in front of him. But even in the darkness, the light from the fire around them was enough to see the white streak in her raven hair. Nicole was unconscious, but he could feel her breathing. He searched his surroundings for any sign of Nathan. He heard a splash from the banks of the river. So he had survived. Dimly Zack wondered what he could have done wrong with the potion. It wasn't until then that he realized that he was still holding the vial of deep red. He had never thrown it. But if he hadn't caused the explosion, then it must have been… He staggered to his knees and forced himself to turn around, back to where he had left the others with the Tates.

"Gwen! GWEN!!" She had been the only other to have a vanquishing potion with her. But none of this made sense. The potion she had wasn't strong enough to cause a blast like that. Not even the one he was holding was capable of that. He could see Cody staggering back to his feet with Max supporting him. Trevor coughed to clear his lungs as he came too. His car had been overturned, but the damage it sustained was nothing next to that of the stolen Honda. All that remained of the flaming car was the metal frame, and not much of it. The potion colliding with the car could easily caused an explosion of that magnitude, and it was with gut wrenching pang in his stomach that he remembered that she had been the closest to the car. But… where was she? Had she been thrown into the river like Nathan? Or had the explosion… he didn't dare let his mind travel that line of thought. He could see Tituba helping Rose regain her footing while Thomas and Rourke urged her on. But Zack was so concerned about Gwen that he hadn't noticed what their enemies had noticed—the red and blue lights and blaring sirens in the distance, coming closer by the second.

"Let's get out of here!" Thomas hissed before he and the others blinked away from the scene.

Zack was back on his feet now, and despite the pain he broke into a run. "GWEN!"

"Thomas…" Cody had to cough before he could continue, "knocked the potion out of her hand. It hit the car and… and…" his eyes said everything he couldn't say out loud.

Zack fell back to his knees. "No… no she couldn't… I gave her the potion… I… I let her fight them both… it's…" He didn't know if he wanted to cry or vomit, but at the moment he felt like he was about to do both. Then everything was numb. He couldn't feel anything. It didn't even register when Max bent down to whisper something comforting in his ear. Not even when he and the others were piled into the back of an ambulance to treat their injuries. Everything went by in a blur. He didn't even move to see if Nicole was awake yet. She was still out cold across from them. He payed no attention to the patrolmen who put the flames out. Only when Lieutenant Morris approached them for questioning while other officers roped off the scene and began combing for evidence, did things start to come back into focus.

**--One Hour Later --**

"So," Lieutenant Morris continued in his skeptical tone, "your car just happens to collide with our suspect's car, which he was reported to have stolen, there's an explosion, and then our suspect just disappears, leaving you with his foster daughter." Zack and Cody sat next to each other on the bumper of the ambulance while Max hovered near them. Trevor leaned casually against the vehicle. He was a pro at acting natural around police.

"You don't believe in coincidences Lieutenant?" Trevor managed a weak grin.

"Don't test me Sykes. You already have a record."

"Look, I'm just telling you the honest truth. The boys needed a ride, and being the nice guy that I am, I offered it to them. Zack had basketball practice, and Cody had ballet. Right Cody?"

Cody nodded grudgingly. If he got the chance, he'd beat Trevor to a pulp later.

Morris turned to question Max. "And you?"

Max was still avoiding eye contact. "I practice at the same dance studio that Cody does. You can ask the staff. I'm there all the time."

Morris tapped a finger to his chin. "You're not nervous are you? What'd you say your name was again?"

The young whitelighter looked him in the eye and did her best to straighten her features. "Max."

Morris nodded and turned to Zack next. "And how about your 'tutor'? Was she with you too?"

Zack didn't answer, but his fists tightened. He didn't have the energy to put up a front for this man at the moment. He had screwed up and Gwen had paid for it. That recurring thought cut through the haze like a hot knife. Gwen was probably dead, and it was entirely his fault.

"Gwen went home earlier." Cody interrupted. "She lives clear on the other side of town. She wasn't—"

"I was asking your brother." Morris cut him off abruptly without taking his eyes off Zack. His voice was surprisingly soft when he asked his next question, but Zack still couldn't process it. "Is there something you're not telling me?" Zack made no move to answer. "Come on Zack. I know you're a good kid, and I'd hate to see you get into any trouble over this. You can talk to me." He had begun soft, but he was growing more urgent with each word. The others held their breath. It looked like he wasn't going to stop until he forced an answer out of him. And in the state that he was, who knew what Zack might say.

At times like these, when you think the situation couldn't be any worse, you're usually proven wrong. Even in his state of shock, Zack could tell that the scene had just gotten quieter. The night air had grown a little colder. Aside from the murmurings of the other policemen at the scene, the only noise he could here was the rhythmic clicking of heeled footsteps on the asphalt. "That's quite enough of that Lieutenant." The voice was smooth, articulate and feminine, and rang with familiarity, but he just couldn't place it right now.

He felt his brother tense beside him, and if he had been more aware he would have noticed Max tense as well. He couldn't understand their reaction as he stared in front of him at the black knee high boots. It wasn't until he followed the black clad legs up past the trim leather trench coat, and gazed on the mocha face framed by long straight night-black hair did he realize. Because in the center of that darkly beautiful face sat a pair of shadowy violet eyes.


	8. Chapter 8: Reunion

**Chapter 8: Reunion**

Morris stood back up to face the woman who had addressed him. "And who might you be?"

Cody felt nothing short of shock that the lieutenant could stare right at her and not want to shrivel into nothing. He couldn't be more terrified, and she wasn't even looking at him. Yet Morris was as fearless and rock-like as ever as he came face to face with Natalia.

The woman seemed to be having a stare down with the Lieutenant as she answered. Both faces were as still and apathetic as stone. "District Attorney, Leah Michaels. The captain called me down here, as this case falls under my jurisdiction."

So she was using a fake name now. He ran the name through his head for a moment—Nata-_lia_. That made sense, but he couldn't place where in the world she got Michaels from. But it didn't matter to him. All Cody could see was Natalia, the demon sorceress, and as unbelievable as it sounded, a member of The Seven. She had been their ally once, but she had also been responsible for binding his and his brother's powers in their infancy, as well as the mastermind behind a web of lies that had nearly destroyed the relationship between himself and his mother, not to mention all the times she had intentionally arranged for them to be put in harm's way. He hadn't seen her since they vanquished The Source, but seeing her before him now brought back that strange mix of fear, anger, and curiosity at an alarming rate. What was she doing here? Her re-appearance seemed to have awakened even Zack from his state of shock.

"And since when does a kidnapping concern the DA's office?" Morris countered her coolly.

"Since we found evidence to support that he's being targeted." Natalia replied dryly.

Morris didn't seem at all surprised by this declaration. He was probably used to this sort of thing. "By whom?"

Natalia folded her arms casually. "I deal in organized crime Lieutenant. I'm sure you're familiar with what happens to those who reveal too much, or ask questions that shouldn't be asked. But if you must know, the stolen vehicle that was blown to smithereens only hours ago," she indicated what remained of the car Nathan had stolen, "was destroyed by an explosion with no identifiable source. No devices or bombs were found. Not only that, the front tire was seen to have been deflated as though by a bullet. Yet your team didn't find a single shell. This is a classic M.O. for those we believe to be working under one Abigail Tate."

Morris grinned smugly, clearly skeptical of the "D.A.'s" story. "You mean the children's charity benefactor? She's an eighty six year old woman. What makes you think she's in with the mob?"

"You're free to believe what you will Lieutenant. I'm not here to convince you of anything. All that would do is likely get us both killed. I already gathered what I came here for."

"Then why are you still here?"

The sorceress pointed a long slim finger at the boys. Cody nearly gasped as he caught a glimpse of the fire colored birthmark on her palm which she had kept carefully hidden under the sleeve of her coat; a fiery slitted eye with black spiked wings protruding from its sides. "I'm here for them. They're the sons of a friend of mine. I'm taking them back to their dwelling."

Morris' stare hardened. Cody wasn't sure if it was because he was losing his witnesses, or if he was just nervous about letting them go with _her. _Either way, he couldn't blame the guy. "Can you prove that?"

"Their names are Zackary and Cody Martin. Their mother is Carey Martin, who is the cabaret singer at the Tipton hotel, at which all three of them reside. Carey is divorced from her Husband Kurt Martin, the boys' father who you may recognize as the lead singer of some rock band that I have neither the time nor the patience to remember the name of. I'm well acquainted with Maxine as well from a Big Sister program I used to volunteer for. Their ages are seventeen; they attend Cheevers High School, and the boys just returned from a Semester at Sea program—Seven Seas High aboard the S.S. Tipton. The boys were born September of 92, and Maxine was born a month earlier. Cody is slated as most likely to be Valedictorian for his senior class, while Zackary is applying for a scholarship in sports, namely basketball. Maxine and Cody dated for two years before a rather unexpected break up. Cody's hobbies include baking, chemistry, male-cheerleading, and rocket science, and he aspires to be the first doctor-lawyer-chef-astronaut. Zackary enjoys basketball, baseball, skateboarding, and just about any other sport you can think of, and he wishes to grow up to be a racecar driver/secret agent. Maxine enjoys sports as well as dancing, and has a passion for helping others, as well as a taste for danger which led to her career goal of going into law enforcement. I can tell you their exact height, weight, and blood type as well if you wish."

This woman never ceased to amaze, and at the same time frighten Cody. He was nearly sick to his stomach at the amount of information she seemed to have on them. What she had said about Max wasn't entirely true, nor was it too far from the truth. She had good reason for lying about that part. But everything she had said about him and his brother was accurate to the syllable.

Morris stared into her ever blank purple eyes, trying to detect a hidden motive. "That's an awful lot of information you have on your friend's kids. And how come I've never heard anything about you from the DA's office?"

"It's a big city Lieutenant. Now unless I'm mistaken," the way she said it made it sound inconceivable that she was even capable of a mistake, "you haven't charged these children, nor do you have anything to charge them with. Their injuries aren't in need of immediate attention, and it's already been determined that they don't need treatment for shock. Given that, I believe I'm cleared to take them home."

Morris looked back at the boys. "Is this alright with you?" he asked resentfully.

They only nodded. As nervous as they were about going with her, given their history it was unlikely that whatever she had planned, she wasn't there to harm them. But what was she here for? Cody heard a slight moan behind him, and it made him remember who else was in the ambulance with him. How were they going to get Nicole out? For the first time his eyes met Natalia's and the look he gave her communed the unvoiced question. Her eyes flickered towards the sleeping girl stretched in the back of the ambulance. As he had expected, Natalia was nothing if not clever had a solution the moment he had presented her the problem.

"The girl in the back, I'm placing her in my custody as well."

"On what grounds?" Morris was past annoyed with her now, and he didn't bother to hide it.

"On the grounds that she has no immediate relatives that we know of, and I know someone who can look after her until we can find out where she has to go. I have a friend who manages the Hotel these boys live at who knows her quite well, as her former caretaker was in his employ. Marion Moseby has the means to look after her until those at the Child Welfare offices can find the most suitable place for her." Her stare was as hard as ice and her tone left no room for argument. "I'll deal with the paperwork. I'm sure you're quite busy with your case. You may have the girl taken to the hospital and treated. I'll be there to pick her up shortly." She decided that she didn't need to waste any more time with the officer and turned her attention to the twins. "Come along boys, Maxine."

She began leading the three of them away. Trevor stood up to follow them, but Morris restrained him. "Where do you think you're going?"

"With Zack and Cody." He answered as though it should be obvious. Morris looked back to Natalia.

"I suppose you know this one too?"

The sorceress turned her amethyst gaze back to the officer and Sykes. "I've never seen him a day in my life. As far as I'm concerned you can take him downtown for questioning."

"What?!" Trevor yelped. He narrowed his eyes as Cody looked back to him smugly and waved.

"Relax Trevor." Max tried to sound sympathetic. "You'll be out in no time."

"Yeah _Trevor_" Morris put a firm hand around his shoulders. "You and I are going to get reacquainted. How does that sound?"

Trevor grimaced as Cody and his brother were led to Natalia's car. It was a little surprising to him that the demoness even owned a car, but even more surprising was the model. It was a bright silver Volvo that looked like the kind you see in action movies during a chase sequence. Natalia moved gracefully to the driver's side and motioned to them. "Get in. Zackary, you get the front seat." That worried Cody. When they had last met, Natalia had focused a great deal of energy in directing Cody along in her plan so that things worked out in her favor. But to his brother she had rarely shown anything more than indifference. What interest did she have in him now?

Seeing no other alternative, he climbed into the back seat with Max, anxious to find out what the sorceress wanted with them now.

**--Inside the Volvo, heading down Bromfield--**

"And you're sure it was Rose, Rourke, and Thomas you saw? And Tituba as well?" Natalia mused after Cody had finished explaining to her what had happened. She had made sure he told everything he recalled in exact detail, and reminded him coldly that she had other ways of getting it out of his head. "That's rare. The Tates are a powerful well connected family. They have an entire network of agents with a fair number of witches in their number. But those three are high ranking members of the family. And Tituba is Abigail's personal attendant. This must indeed be quite the event for them to be sent personally."

"They must want Nicole really bad." Cody surmised.

"Now are you sure that you've told me everything they said? The slightest scrap of information can be of great importance."

"I promise that's everything. Now what about Nicole? You said you'd help us protect her."

"I did no such thing." The demoness said in a level voice. "You simply pleaded for help, and being in a particularly good mood today, I felt obliged to help. But be careful, that can change in an instant."

Cody sighed. Aside from being an imposing presence in his life, Natalia had also confused him to no end. After all, she was a _demon_. And yet she had lent a hand to them several times. What did she get out of it? Especially now that the Source had been vanquished? For hundreds of years, that had been her drive. And after befriending and losing Melinda Warren in the battle it had become that much more a personal battle for her. But now that he was gone, what was her purpose here? If there was one thing he knew about her it was that she always had an ulterior motive. What was her hang up on them? But his thoughts were interrupted when she finally turned to Zack. Despite forcing him to sit by her, she had been in no hurry to make him talk, and he had remained as stoic as he had when they had been taken into custody.

"So Zackary, what's your story? When I approached, your brother and your whitelighter's heartbeats quickened, but yours remained as steady as it was when I arrived. In fact it seems to be a little slower than normal."

Zack said nothing and continued to stare blankly out the window.

"We…" Cody stammered, "we lost someone today. A friend who was helping us track Nathan and Nicole." He wasn't sure how Zack would feel about him telling her about Gwen, but at the same time he didn't want Natalia to decide to force the information out of him. Zack didn't react.

"Ah," Natalia replied, and it was here that Cody witnessed a rare moment when she actually sounded sympathetic. "I see." A few moments of silence passed before she spoke again. "In that case, your behavior is understandable—childish, but understandable."

Zack clenched his fists at her words. Cody tensed and Max held his hand tightly.

Natalia either didn't notice or didn't care. "So what are you going to do about it?" Zack said nothing. "Are you just going to let your friend's death be in vain?" Again he said nothing. "Well I can tell you that sitting here and feeling sorry for yourself isn't going to solve things." Still no reply from Zack, but Cody could see his anger beginning to surface. "That's right. Clam up and hope things go away. That's how children handle things isn't it? Pathetic. Truly pathetic."

Zack could feel the blood rising in his face. Every cruel word the sorceress uttered brought Gwen's face into his mind; Gwen standing at the door to their suite, Gwen talking to him in the hallway while she teased him about his sibling rivalry with Cody, Gwen watching him with admiration when he taught her how to scry with a computer, Gwen putting a comforting arm on his when Nathan had escaped with Nicole… and Gwen fighting both Rose and Thomas because of his stupid idea, fighting with all her strength right up until the car exploded. Then in a dizzying whirl he was pulled back into the present, in the car where Cody and Max's eyes were glued to him in astonishment. He didn't remember throwing a punch at Natalia, but nevertheless his fist remained clenched in her hand after she caught it before it could connect with her cold unfeeling face. The flames that danced over his fist didn't even seem to faze her, and even through the fire Zack could feel that her hand was unnaturally cold. She held it tightly with strength that didn't feel like it could belong to that slender arm.

Zack spoke in a voice that was so angry and full of hate, it couldn't possibly belong to him. But those words were coming out of his mouth as plain as day. "What would a _demon _know about losing a friend? You people kill day in and day out and feel NOTHING!"

Somehow her expression had remained blank. With her cold hand she lowered his fist away from her. The crimson fire danced across her features eerily. Zack felt her pull the car to a stop. She turned those purple eyes on him and pulled her night black hair back behind her ears. "You really need to ask that question?"

Zack's face softened, though he couldn't quite manage to release the anger that had been so strong only moments ago.

"Let me guess," she drawled, "you feel like the whole thing is your fault. That there was something you could have done to stop it. That if you had just been better prepared, or if you had done one thing different, she'd still be here right now. Am I right?"

Of course, if there was anyone who knew how he felt, it would be Natalia. He had written the story of that battle in the grove himself. It had been one of the first entries he had written when he and his brother started their own Book of Shadows. He remembered vividly the first time he heard it, how Natalia had grown close to Melinda Warren, like a sister, and how she had lost her in that fight, and how for centuries she had never forgiven herself for it. It had been her drive since that day to vanquish The Source, not for personal gain, but for her friend. The fire around his hands burned out immediately and he returned his stare to the window. That was when he finally noticed that they had pulled up in front of the Tipton and the sorceress was waiting for them to get out.

Now that Natalia was through questioning them though, Cody had a few questions of his own. "Hold up Nat." he used the nickname that the Charmed Ones had given her, but the icy stare she shot at him through the rearview mirror made him quickly regret it. He swallowed and tried to remember what it was he had been going to say. "What are you doing here? Why are you investigating the Tates? Last I heard you were protecting The Hollow."

Natalia sighed. "Yes that's true. Since word spread that I had a hand in The Source's demise, and that I aided the Charmed Ones, I was decreed by both sides from evil to neutral status. My role in the magical community has changed dramatically. After the Charmed Ones nearly destroyed themselves by using The Hollow, I have been charged with guarding it, but that is only one of my duties. I am one of the head guardians of magic on the Tribunal now. I watch for activity on both sides that could leave it exposed, as well as anything that can shift the balance too greatly. As you can imagine, since the decimation of the Underworld, I've had my hands full. We on the Tribunal believe that Abigail Tate may be planning something that could devastate the community—that they may be guilty of committing a taboo. But we can't prove it, and this neutrality thing is tricky. Without hard evidence, we can't act. The Tates are a powerful family with nearly infinite resources, and they're very good at hiding what they do. Otherwise we would have put an end to them a lot sooner."

Max leaned forward in her seat. "What do you think they're doing?"

"I can't say for sure, but from what you've told me, it has something to do with that girl. She's a fire-starter, and a powerful witch for sure. But if they wanted to simply recruit someone, they have other agents for that. You heard Lieutenant Morris mention that Abigail is a benefactor for children's charity? More specifically, orphans. She has several establishments in her grip, as well as agents in their staff. Should they find a witch, they bring them into the fold. But they've been tracking that girl for years. On top of that, they sent direct relatives, and they're best agents to collect her. Something much bigger is going on and I intend to find out what it is."

"And you're using us to do your dirty work." Max said bitterly.

Natalia's smile was as cold as her eyes. "That's such a nasty way of putting it. I prefer the phrase 'lending a helping hand'. After all, I helped you in the past. I thought you'd be ecstatic to return the favor."

"We'll do it." Zack said abruptly, surprising everyone in the car, save for Natalia. He wondered if anything surprised her. For someone who had been alive as long as she had, it wasn't likely.

"Zack," Cody warned "do you know what you're saying?"

"Cody's right Zack." Max agreed. That wasn't something that happened to often anymore. "You've just been through something horrible, but are you sure you want to get tangled with _her _again?" Max had more reason than anyone to feel bitter about Natalia. Not only had she worked for the sorceress under the Elder's command, she had been forced to live with her for months on end. "Think about what you're doing."

"I know what I'm doing. We're protecting an innocent. It's what we do. It's what Gwen would want." He couldn't keep his voice from breaking a little at that part. "I'm still not sure about Nathan, but I know those people are way worse than him. Keeping Nicole away from them is our main concern right now. And when Nathan comes for her…" his fists became balled up again. "We'll deal with that when it comes."

Max looked to Cody for an answer. He only nodded. He often complained about his brother not taking their job seriously enough, but secretly he hated it when Zack was this serious. Ever since they had discovered their powers, Zack had been the heart and soul of their team, that ray of sunshine that never seemed to dim. But they had lost innocents before—it was an unavoidable part of their job—and Zack had always taken it the hardest, like each and every one lost was his own personal failure. It shouldn't be Zack. He was the oldest, but Cody was the protector. Prue had charged him; the level headed one with that task specifically. It should be _his_ burden. Now that it wasn't just an innocent, but a fellow witch and a friend, he couldn't imagine what his twin was going through right now. Whatever he needed to do to keep him from focusing on Gwen, Cody was behind him one hundred percent. Even if that meant involving himself with someone he had hoped he'd never see again.

He took a deep breath and let it all come out at once. "So what do you want us to do?"

Natalia grinned her usual knowing grin. "Just keep your innocent safe for now. You'll know what to do when the time is right." A second car heading towards them came to a stop across the street. Two men in suits that were hard to see in the darkness stepped out and moved to open the back. "Good. She's here. You three go inside. I need to have a word with dear old Marion."

**--Tipton Hotel, Main Lobby--**

"Ah, there you two are." Moseby, the manager of the hotel called as Zack and Cody, followed closely by Max, came in through the double doors of the hotel. "Your mother has called me several times. She said she couldn't reach you on your cell phones. Where have you been?"

"Sorry." Cody said automatically.

"Don't apologize to me. Apologize to your mother. She's the one who's been worried sick about you." Moseby said flatly, although they could feel a hint of relief from him at seeing them again. He was one of the few people outside the family who knew about what they did, although for the most part he liked to pretend it wasn't real and that they were sneaking out to the arcade like normal teenagers. Some people just couldn't handle the magical world and it was much easier for them to just ignore it. But that didn't prevent him from becoming a bundle of nerves whenever the boys had a "job" to do.

"That would be my fault Marion." Came that familiar voice. Natalia came through the doors with—Zack was relieved to see— a tired but virtually unharmed Nicole. "I needed their assistance escorting this young lady here." Nicole kept her blue eyes trained on the floor. The loud white streak in her dark hair hung over her ear in her face now. She looked frightened as well as exhausted, but that could have been from the demoness' touch.

Natalia nudged her along to speak with Moseby directly. "Long time no see Marion."

"Indeed Madame." Moseby answered, sounding slightly more nervous. "What can I do for you?"

"Nothing for me, but you can help the twins if it's not too much trouble."

Moseby rolled his eyes. "I've been doing it for six years. Why should it bother me now?"

"Marion, I'm sure you're well aware by now what sort of work these boys do." Natalia dropped her voice as though she was worried someone might overhear them. Moseby's jaw dropped as before his very eyes, the woman's ears changed and came to fine points that poked out from her hair. "This is such a circumstance. One that requires discretion. The police may be coming by later to ask questions about this girl. As far as they're concerned, she's staying with you. The boys will be looking after her for now. That's all you need to know, and all you wish to know I assume."

Moseby nodded. "If you insist. Will Nathan be…"

"That's _all _you need to know." Natalia repeated. Her ears shrunk again, taking on the human disguise once more. "Now if you would be so kind as to escort Nicole to where she will be staying? I need to speak to these three alone."

Moseby reached into the front pocket of his suit for his handkerchief with the big golden T for Tipton embroidered on its corner. "Of course." He took Nicole by the hand, who still had said nothing, and didn't resist. It was then that Zack noticed the way the demoness had her hand on Nicole's shoulder. It looked almost protective, but that didn't sound like the right word. Then he found the term to describe the sorceress' action and it was possessive. Perhaps the Tates weren't the only thing to keep Nicole away from he thought.

When they were alone again in the lobby which was vacant due to the late hour, Natalia gave them their last instructions. "I've placed a temporary bind on her powers. She shouldn't prove difficult from here on. At least she won't destroy the hotel in a tantrum. But it will wear off in a few day's time. You have until then to get her to cooperate or find another way to keep her powers from getting out of control and attracting the Tates."

"Any ideas how we do that?" Cody asked sourly.

"Zackary, from what I remember you are quite the ladies man. Work some of your 'god-given magic' if you will. I'm sure you can make her see things your way." She stepped past them lightly, running her fingers through Zack's hair in a very unsettling way before she made her exit without another word.

Zack turned back to Cody and Max. "What do we do now?"

Cody shrugged and had to stifle a yawn. "This was your idea. I don't know about you, but I'm catching some Z's. Max, Nicole might have to stay on the pull-out couch. Do you think you can stay with her?" He didn't wait for an answer before he headed for the elevator.

Zack turned to max to see if she had anything to offer. She only smiled. "You heard her. Work your magic on her, Romeo."


	9. Chapter 9:Guest

A/N: Many apologies for the long wait, as well as for the short chapter. But I hope you enjoy it anyway. I've just been pretty busy, and I wasn't quite as motivated to do this chapter since there's no action in it. Nothing to keep my adrenaline going on things like this but caffeine. Lots and lots of caffeine!

**Chapter 9: Guest**

"Thanks again Maddie." Zack said politely.

"No problem at all." Maddie replied, handing him the cardboard box of girl's clothes. "Like I said, they don't fit me anymore. I just think it's so sweet that you two are helping Moseby take care of her for now."

"What can I say?" he said smugly. "I'm just one big bucket o' sugar."

Maddie rolled her eyes. She was used to the pick-up lines by now. "Just be sure to treat her right. And try to control yourself. She's alone with two boys while your mother is out. Poor thing must be scared to death."

"Actually, Max is staying with us to help."

"And you're sure your mom's okay with this?" Maddie asked.

"This is a special circumstance. Besides, she trusts me and Cody to act like mature, well behaved gentleman."

Maddie gave him a look of skepticism.

He sighed. "And she'd appreciate it if you checked in on us every now and again until she gets back."

"Yeah, nice try. She called me already." Maddie ruffled his blond mop of hair. "But let me know how Nicole likes the clothes. Where are Cody and Max?"

"Out. They have some kind of study date."

"Does this mean they're back together?" Maddie asked hopefully.

"I wish. They're driving me nuts."

"Sorry. Just say hi for me when they get back. I hardly ever get to see you guys anymore."

"Don't sweat it. You're busy. A job, college, and you're still helping take care of your family. You deserve a vacation."

They both laughed. "Try telling that to Moseby." Her pager went off where it was clipped to the skirt of your uniform. "Shoot. I have to go, or I'll be late for my next shift."

"See ya'." Zack waved. He watched her leave and they waved one more time when she got to the elevator. She was also one of the people who knew about what he did. But she had never mentioned it since that night. He'd tried to ask her about it once. Her answer had been simply that it didn't matter to her what sort of messed up things were going on in their life. To her they'd always be Zack and Cody, and that they could always count on her if they needed it. It was always good to have someone to talk with outside of the family about the whole witch thing. And Maddie was still one of the best friends he could ask for. But he didn't feel the need to tell her the real reason Nicole was staying here. This was just one thing he'd have to keep to himself rather than worry her needlessly. Nicole being caught in a struggle between the Tate family and Natalia, that was something they had to deal with on their own.

He shifted the box of clothes in his arms and turned around just in time to see Max, Cody, and Trevor orb in. "Hey guys. You just missed Maddie. Any luck?"

"Nope." Cody said sourly. "Nathan's officially off the radar again."

"We might be able to track him if you and me were together. Face it, with me in here, your powers are at half strength."

"No way. Someone has to stay here with Nicole. That's the priority."

"Any of you could do it. It's not like I'm the only one that can protect her."

"No, but you're the only one she'll _let _protect her. All I did last night was try and bring her the food I made her. But anytime any of us try to talk to her, she scratches and slaps and she _bites! _ Zack, she actually bit me!"

Max sighed. "You woke her up and she panicked. She was having another one of those nightmares. She hasn't done that with any of us. But I'll admit that she's probably the worst sleepover guest ever. She won't talk to me at all. Doesn't she know you don't actually sleep at a sleepover?"

"Yeah, she's not that bad Cody." Trevor grinned, taking another chug of the twenty ounce cherry coke he had on him as he plopped back down onto the couch. "But I will say this. She seems to respond the best to Zack. Guess that demon gal was right. You're a real lady killer."

While normally Zack would have taken this as a compliment, he couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't his charm that made him the only one Nicole was willing to talk to.

"So how are you getting along with your guest?" Trevor asked, looking a little more interested in his coke than in the conversation.

"Aside from the nightmares, she's pretty quiet." Max admitted. "Too quiet."

"She's just been through a lot right now." Zack said firmly. "We need to give her some space."

Cody glowered. "She's already got our room. What more space can we give her?"

"Giving her and Max our room was _your _idea." Zack reminded him.

Cody folded his arms. "I figured your snoring couldn't be any worse than it is in there. I was dead wrong." He looked like he was about to throw himself onto the couch until he remembered who was sitting there.

Zack shook his head. "Whatever. I'll be in there if you need me. But knock first if you want your hair to stay on your head and not on fire." No one argued with that. He hefted the box of clothes under one arm so he could open the door slowly. He wasn't surprised to find Nicole curled up like a cat, fast asleep. It was one of the few times she'd looked peaceful since she came. He crept in as quietly as he could, but she woke anyway. She got into a sitting position and eyed him warily. "Hey." He said, trying to sound nonchalant. She didn't say anything. "Umm… Maddie dropped off some clothes for you. You've got to be running out by now." She still made no move. "I'm not going to hurt you. Least you could do is stop pretending you're scared of us." She still said nothing. "You know, you could probably do a lot worse to us than we could do to you." Her eyes widened for a second, then she stared at the floor. Zack gave up and strode to the foot of the bed and placed the box on the floor. He turned to leave, moving slowly to give her a chance to change her mind. He started to wonder when he reached the door. His hand was on the knob when his patience was finally rewarded.

"Thank you." She said in her soft airy voice.

He turned around and shot her a wide smile. "There. Now was that so hard?" She didn't look at him. "Why can't you be that nice to the others. They're just trying to help."

"It's just… easier to talk to you is all."

Zack took a seat at the foot of Cody's bed so he could face her. "Why's that?"

"They're always… angry when they come near me. Especially Max."

Zack thought about that for a moment. That made sense. It seemed that they had all been on edge for awhile. "Well, I wouldn't say Max is angry so much as… frustrated. When something bothers her she has to put up the tough girl act. She just hasn't been the same since…" He cut himself off. This wasn't a topic that he should discuss with her. Not because it was painful, but because it wasn't his issue to talk about. That was between her and Cody. "But what about Sykes? He's never angry."

Nicole glowered and folded her arms. "No he's not. I just can't stand him." She admitted.

Zack laughed. He'd had a feeling Nicole wouldn't like Trevor. He was too touchy feely for her. If there was anything he knew for certain about Nicole, it was that she liked her boundaries. "Okay. So what is it about me that makes me okay?"

"I don't feel any anger from you for one." She said shyly, brushing that white streak out of her hair.

"So what do you feel?" He had been trying hard to stay calm around her. But he was surprised he was doing well enough for her not to feel _anything. _It seemed that there had been a seed of bitterness in him since that night by the river. But it didn't seem to bother her, so he must be a better actor than he thought.

Nicole bit her lip. "Sadness." She answered. "You use anger to deal with it, or at least you think it's anger, but really it's just sadness and… guilt." The air seemed heavy between them now and Zack suddenly didn't feel like talking. He knew she was right. He had always had problems dealing with grief, and he had always covered it with something else. He wasn't like Cody, who was practically ruled by his emotions. He always had to pretend like things didn't bother him so he could keep things light for his family's sake. The heart of the family is what Cody had called him once. Cody was the protector, the one who could get angry so his brother didn't have to, and then use that anger as his drive when push came to shove. But Zack kept things bottled up and it would explode later when he was alone. But it had taken him nearly fifteen years to figure this out about himself, and yet Nicole had seen through it in the short time she'd realized what her powers were.

"It wasn't your fault you know." She broke the silence. She looked at him for the first time and he noticed that her eyes had started to swim, but she refused to let the tears through. "No one could have known what was going to happen to Gwen."

He was surprised by her forwardness all of a sudden. "It's alright. It… kind of comes with the job. But if I hadn't…"

"No." She said firmly. "It wasn't your fault. You were both just doing what you thought you had to. If it's anyone's fault…" She bit her lip again. Zack understood in an instant.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid!_ He berated at himself in his head. It really hadn't occurred to him that she felt guilty about what had happened to Gwen too? "It wasn't your fault either. Like I said, it just comes with the job. I'm sorry. Forget I said anything." He felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach seeing her cry over this. This was _his_ pain, not hers. He'd been the one who had come up with the stupid idea to take off after Nathan alone and leave Gwen to fight two highly trained witches on her own.

She looked back down at the floor. It seemed like she couldn't hold her tears back anymore. "I wish we'd never come here. I wish I was still with Nathan. I wish I'd never met you."

Zack got up and took a seat next to her. "It wasn't your fault okay? Look if you want the whole truth, it was Nathan's fault. He's the one who distracted us so he could grab you and take off."

Nicole looked back up at him and seemed to read his mind again. "You still hate him don't you." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. "It's not him. It's them, whoever they are. He's been on the run with me for ten years to make sure they can't reach me. I don't expect you to believe me. But everything he's done has been for me. He never once thinks of himself." She was trembling now.

He hesitated, but he couldn't stop himself from putting an arm around her. "It's okay. You're safe now. And Nathan…" it pained him to say this "I'm sure Nathan's fine. He's got a demon in him right? I'm sure he pulled out of that." _But he wouldn't have if I had just had the chance… _he let that thought trail off, his mind drifting to that crimson potion he had in his sock drawer. It was the only one he had left. The one he had tried to use on the bridge had chipped and by the time he'd noticed, the vial was empty. And the other one… he still didn't know what had happened to that one. He'd probably lost it in the explosion.

"It doesn't matter what you say, those feelings are still there." Nicole sobbed.

He sighed. He just couldn't hide anything from her. "Okay look, I'm willing to level with you here, and admit that Nathan's not such a bad guy. But he's gone about this all wrong. He really should be looking for help. Trying to keep you away from people like the Tates all on his own is insane. He should be trying to get in contact with your whitelighter, or the elders, or some other good witches. Then maybe things wouldn't have turned out this bad. And using that demon whatever to get stronger is something _I'm_ not even dumb enough to do."

She didn't seem to have an argument for that.

He let out a long slow breath. "Tell you what. If we find him, we'll bring him back here and get in touch with the Elders. If they say it's okay, I'm sure they can set you up somewhere where you'll both be safe and not have anyone coming after you anymore. Maybe you can even go back to Magic School."

"I'm _never_ going back to that place." She growled.

"Just a suggestion."

"But… I would like that other part." They were quiet again for awhile, and though he felt a little guilty (this wasn't common for him) it felt good to let her cry on his shoulder. When she had calmed down some, she felt up to talking again. "You know… I never felt that anger whenever Nathan was around. I think he tried hard to keep calm around me. I think it was like what you said. He kind of balanced out the bad. But he's not here right now. And yet, right now at least, I feel fine."

A smile tugged at the corners of Zack's lips. "What are you trying to say?"

"Thanks for being my balancer."

**--Back in the Living Room--**

"You two are horrible." Trevor muttered, craning his neck around so he could catch Cody and Max pressing their ears to the door of the bedroom.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Max sniped, barely taking her attention away from her eavesdropping.

"Move over." Cody tried to wedge himself between Max and the door.

"Wait your turn." Max shoved him back.

"Really, you two ought to be ashamed of yourself." Trevor said half-heartedly.

Having no luck getting past Max, Cody looked back at Sykes. "You can't tell me you're not the least bit curious what's going on in there. He's been in there for at least ten minutes."

"I'm intensely curious." Trevor said flatly. "I'm an inquisitive guy. But unlike you two, I have a little more class than that." He lifted his bottle of cherry coke to his lips yet again and Cody watched in disgust as he chugged the remaining half in one gulp before setting it back down to let out a belch that reverberated off the walls.

"Oh sick." Max pulled away to glare at him.

He paid them no mind and lifted the empty bottle eye-level with himself. "Shoot. All empty."

"Good." Cody whispered.

"Never fear." Trevor reached into the front pocket of his hoodie and pulled out a brand new twenty ounce bottle. He unscrewed the cap and went right back to guzzling his caffeine.

"You know, with the amount of caffeine and corrosive sugar you've consumed, it's a wonder your skeleton hasn't eroded away yet." Cody shook his head.

Max seemed to share his feelings. "How many of those can you fit in that pocket anyway? It doesn't look that big."

Trevor grinned back at her. "Little trick I picked up from Maggs when I went to see her at Magic School. It's enchanted."

Cody and Max groaned in unison.

The door to the bedroom opened and Zack stepped through. "Finally." Cody said with relief. "Ready? I think Max is okay to stay with Nicole for awhile. You're right, I could use you to help me track Nathan."

Zack seemed to waver on indecision. "Oh… about that… I think I should stay here. Like you said, Nicole's the priority right?"

Cody and Max exchanged glances then looked back at him. The others could swear they heard Sykes chuckle. "Then I'm staying here too." Max informed him.

"Huh?"

"You know the rules Zack." Cody said at once. "We're not allowed to be alone with girls in the apartment."

"But Max is a girl." He reminded them.

"Yeah," Trevor agreed, "but I'm still pretty sure she could take you. Besides, I need to pick up my car from the shop anyway."

"It's only been three days." Cody said with shock, wondering how that kind of damage could be repaired so quickly.

Trevor's look as he got up from the couch was blank. "I've got a guy."


	10. Chapter 10: Enemy

A/N: My most sincere apologies for the long wait. I won't lie, I have been procrastinating lately. But hopefully this chapter will make up for it. Enjoy!

**Chapter 10: Enemy**

**---Abigail, Tate Beachside Estate, East of Boston---**

The curtains of the chamber were drawn, filtering out the harsh sunlight, lest it fall on the lady of the house's delicate pasty skin. It was beautifully decorated with a sort of Victorian era theme. Most of the house had that sort of feel. The ancient Abigail Tate was lying in a sitting position on her extravagant queen sized bed that would have appeared very elegant, if its appearance weren't slightly marred by the IV hooked up next to it. Tituba sat diligently at the bedside, running the old wooden brush through Abigail's waist length hair that even in her advanced age was as beautiful as it had ever been, the way the sunlight reflected off her silvery gray tresses. The two women looked up when they heard something slam against the door to the room, as though someone had been thrown into it and bounced off violently. Two male voices were heard grumbling outside.

"Tituba," Abigail said in her high musical voice, "answer that would you?" The dark skinned girl only nodded, setting the brush down on the nightstand and getting to her feet. Her footsteps made barely a sound as she moved to the door to admit Thomas and Rourke, the two of them rubbing their foreheads. Abigail shook her ancient head. "That will teach the two of you to try and blink into my chambers unannounced. Where's Rose?"

"Here Ma'am." The blond witch stepped lithely into the room, that usual grin of pearly white teeth secure on her face. "I tried to tell them. But their heads may as well be made of brikk."

Thomas and Rourke growled at Rose' remark, but made no attempts to argue. Women had the final say in the Tate Family. The three of them gathered around her bedside, Rose taking the stool that stood at the ornate vanity set on the other end of the room. Tituba returned with a tray of tea and tarts. Rourke and Thomas both tried to help themselves, but Tituba swatted their hands away easily and gave them a stern look. For someone who couldn't speak, she was quite the spitfire. Abigail took the first tea cup daintily and sipped it, not even looking at the others until she felt ready to speak again.

"So, are you ready to report on your recent miserable failure?"

"I wouldn't kall it a failure Auntie. More like a minor setback." Rose grinned. She never seemed to take Abigail's criticism seriously. "Nathan's a little more klever than we gave him kredit for. But now that he and the little one have been separated, they pose a less formidable threat."

"Don't take that girl lightly." Abigail warned firmly. "She must be something special if Nathan has gone this far for ten years to keep her from us. What kould he be hiding?" She seemed to be speaking more to herself now than to the others. "Now about the boys."

"It's them alright." Thomas spoke. "They're everything they've been rumored; the youngest members of the Seven."

"I see. That changes things." Abigail mused.

"It's not only them." Rose interrupted. "Among them are a whitelighter with an unusual ability. She wields an athame that appears to be able to shoot violet lightning. There's also another male witch with them; an illusionist. He kan also fire darts, same as Thomas."

Abigail nodded her head. "I see. So what was your impression of them?"

"Well the oldest is the fire-starter, but he's klearly not the alpha-male. That role goes to his telekinetik twin. I must say, that one was rather impressive with his steely gaze."

"What are your orders?" Rourke asked in his grating voice that sounded like wood dragging on stone.

Abigail took a long while to answer, polishing off one of the tarts from the tray and washing it down with another sip of her tea. "I want them alive if you kan."

The other three looked to each other with a mix of confusion and astonishment. Thomas looked back to Abigail. "But we only kapture when we believe they kan be turned. The illusionist seems wily enough, but those boys are Proktors. Our families have warred for generations."

Abigail's voice was harder now, ringing with the wisdom of her years. "Do not question me Thomas. As a male, you will never know the burden of being head of the Tate line. You will do as you're told, if not by me then by my sukcessor." Her expression softened again. "As for the boys, they are highly kapable and talented witches. It would be a waste to simply have them killed, don't you think? They still may be made useful. But that is a little far off. For now, just fokus on your main objektive. Kapture Nikole at all kosts. This is the first time we've pikked up a trace of Nathan in ten years, and I'll be damned if we're going to lose it now. You all have your assignments. Now go."

The other three exchanged wary glances. This wasn't like Abigail. Normally she would have demanded the Proctor boys' heads on a platter. But they knew better than to question the wisdom of the Matriarch. Doing so had often produced messy consequences. Rose got back to her feet. "As you wish Auntie." And in an instant, she wasn't there anymore. The other two blinked out almost as quickly.

With them gone, Abigail leaned back, lifting the beautifully hand painted teacup to her lips. "Mmm it's divine Tituba. What brand is this? Khamomile?" The dark skinned girl at her bedside only nodded.

**---Cody & Trevor, Suite 2330, Tipton Hotel Boston---**

"I'm worried." Cody admitted as he continued to stir the potion that remained brewing over the kitchen stove. "It's been days and still no sign of Nathan. Don't you think he would have come looking for her by now?"

"Not if he's keeping a low profile." Trevor replied, looking up from his work to see what Cody was up to. "What's with the ponytail?"

"It keeps my hair a safe distance away from the potion. And besides that, it looks hot."

"Keep telling yourself that. So like I said, he's probably just laying low until the air clears."

"Or the Tates got to him before we did."

"Were you always such a pessimist?" Trevor jibed. Cody didn't answer. "Or did it happen after you and Max—"

Cody cut him off. "If you want to keep your teeth, I'd shut up."

Sykes just grinned. "Looks like I hit a nerve. Man what happened to you guys? You used to be joined at the hip and then all of a sudden you're dating other girls, and don't get me wrong, I'm all for that, but you didn't strike me as that kind of guy. I mean if it's about that whole witch and whitelighter thing, I'm pretty sure the Elders make exceptions ever since that Charmed One… was it Piper?"

"Look it has nothing to do with that. Would you just keep your eyes on the laptop. How much longer until they get to the safehouse?"

"About ten minutes." Sykes answered, keeping his eyes on the notebook computer which was currently using its scrying feature to keep track of the car Zack and Nicole were in. "We're lucky Nicole finally told us where it is. She must really trust us now."

"No, she trusts Zack. That's something else that worries me. He's kind of taking this case personally. I think a lot of it has to do with what happened to Gwen. Nicole told me he still blames himself for what happened to her."

Trevor frowned. "Hey come on. We don't even know for sure if she's actually gone. Maybe she… I don't know, deflected the explosion."

"Then why didn't we find her?"

"Maybe she shimmered or blinked away."

"Gwen can't do that. Deflection was her only power. That and sensing other people's powers. And if she did survive, why hasn't she tried to get back in touch with us?"

"Probably for the same reason Nathan is still on the down low. The Tates might be after her too. Natalia already said there's probably big red targets painted on all of our foreheads now."

"That's comforting." Cody grimaced.

Trevor grinned. "What? You mean big bad Cody Martin of the seven is worried about something as little as the magical mafia having it out for him?" Cody didn't have an answer for that. Trevor changed the subject. "So how long before Max gets back from the Elders?"

"Don't know. Time gets a little skewed up there."

"She really sure about calling in their help about this? I don't think that Natalia character is going to like that. And from what you've told me, she's not someone you'd want mad at you."

"Never mind her. She kind of owes us." Cody glowered over the potion that was starting to fog. He wasn't even sure why he was making it. It just felt good to keep his hands busy. It kept him from contemplating strangling Trevor. He didn't really understand it, but he just couldn't stand Trevor. Maybe it was just the way he kept flirting with Max who either didn't pick up on it, or just didn't mind.

"So I know you've been dating, but what about Max?" Sykes asked.

"I don't know. She doesn't really talk about it. Why would she?" Now he was really getting on Cody's nerves. His grip on the wooden spoon he was stirring with tightened.

"I just thought you'd want to know." Sykes watched him slyly out of the corner of his eye. "But hey, that's just me I guess. 'Cause I was thinking, if she was available at the moment…"

"Yeah?" Cody squeezed tighter.

"I thought I'd try asking her out."

SNAP, the wooden handle of the spoon broke cleanly in half and Cody spun round, pinning Sykes with his gaze.

Trevor however grinned triumphantly and pointed an accusing finger at him. "I knew it! It is bothering you! Can't fool me trying to act all aloof."

"It does not bother me! I'm completely over her! I'm just frustrated with the situation right now, and you bringing up how you want to date my ex is just one thing I don't want to deal with right now!"

"Alright, alright, don't be so high strung."

"I am not high strung!"

"Then why'd you forget your pants this morning?"

Cody's glare broke into a look of confusion as he looked down at his legs. He was startled to find his blue plaid boxer shorts looking back at him. "What the…"

Trevor rolled with laughter. "Sorry. I just couldn't resist. Man you're an easy target." The other witch snapped his fingers, and in a quick flash like that of a camera, Cody's legs were comfortably back in his jeans.

"That wasn't funny. Save that for the Tates."

"Classic." Trevor muttered to himself as he gave himself his usual caffeine buzz to refocus himself on the task at hand.

**---Zack & Nicole, Unknown Avenue, Outskirts of Boston---**

"Not much further." Nicole assured Zack as they sped down the highway in the Martin's family car. It was a modest used Honda Accord that they had helped their mom pay for after they got their licenses. However, their paychecks didn't quite contribute to the payments as much as Carey's salary, so she referred to it as her car. It wasn't very flashy, but Zack could still drag race with the best of them in it if his mother would have permitted it. "Now remember, no magic. I'll go in first. We are not looking for a fight."

"I know." Zack said again. "I already promised you didn't I?"

"You can't lie to an empath. Besides that, your knuckles on the wheel are white."

Zack loosened his grip a little. "Look, I know you told me he's a good guy and all, but It's not like an on-off switch. I'm going to be angry when we get there, and I'll probably still be angry for a while after that. But I promise I won't do anything stupid."

Nicole shrugged. "Okay. I trust you. Make a left here."

Zack pulled the car onto a dirt road that wasn't easily seen by anyone who wasn't deliberately looking for it. Just over the hill he could barely make out what looked like an oversized wood shed. But once he got closer he found that it was actually a small cabin. "This it?"

"This is it. He said it was an old safe house his family used way back in the day during the witch hunts. It's still kept in pretty good shape, but no one ever uses it." She replied. "Park here so he doesn't hear the engine."

He did as she said and they made their way down the rest of the road on foot. "Should I knock?"

"Only if you want an energy ball in your face. I'll go in first." Nicole turned the knob to find it unlocked. Then she let herself in to announce herself. "Nate? Nate it's me. Are you here?"

Zack entered just behind her. The lights were out and the shades were drawn, admitting only dim orange lighting through their fibers. From what he could see, there wasn't much. There was a couch that probably pulled out into a bed, a small TV, and a ladder that led to a bunk with a mattress covered with a pink comforter, obviously Nicole's. "Nicole, I don't think he's here."

"It's kind of dark. Let me just…" she fumbled her fingers around for a bit before she was able to find the switch. The fluorescent light that flooded the room allowed them to see for the first time, Nathan face down on the rug. Just above him, leaning over the couch were the pointed wiry features of Thomas Tate.

"So good of you to kome. We were getting worried." Instinctively, Zack raised his hand, alight with a bright red fireball. "Ah-ah-ah-ah." Thomas smirked, pointing his index finger at Nathan's unconscious body, his thumb making his hand in the shape of a gun. On the tip of his finger was a glowing energy dart. "You put away your toy, I'll put away mine." Nicole put her hands over Zack's arm, her blue eyes pleading him to lower it. He had no choice. His power was stronger, but Thomas' was quicker and more accurate. He lowered his weapon and extinguished it. "There's a good boy."

Heavy footsteps from the farther corner of the room heralded Rourke's appearance. "He was so easy to nab." The giant male witch bellowed.

Thomas flashed a smile at them in agreement. "Bakk in the day, Nate here would have made a run for it. I guess he was just so hung up on waiting for you that he slipped up and didn't hear us koming."

Nicole glowered at their opponents. "If you were in here the whole time, why couldn't I sense you?"

"Empath masking potion." Thomas replied dryly.

Zack tensed. How did they know about Nicole's other power?

Rourke lowered his hands to his sides and flexed his trunk-like biceps. "Shall we have some fun with them brother?"

Zack braced himself for the oncoming attack, placing himself protectively in front of Nicole as both Tates started to make their way towards them.

**---Max, Up There---**

Max tapped her foot impatiently, leaning casually against one of the pillars that didn't seem to have any purpose in this place above the clouds. As far as she could tell, there was no ceiling for them to support. But she was still a young whitelighter, and she didn't trouble herself too much with how things in the hierarchy worked. Her glance kept shifting towards the shimmering gold double door, behind which the high council of Elders was still convening. She was a little more anxious to report this time than usual. It had been bothering her since that night at the bridge. How much had they actually known about this case? The Elders wouldn't have purposely sent them into an inferno like this would they? Zack and Cody were powerful, but they were still young. They had to have known this was more than a simple missing witch case. Had it really been the Elders who had wanted them on this, or was Natalia using her network to pull strings again. That would be typical of her, using her pull to get the twins to do her dirty work. But what was her angle this time?

"Oh, hey Max. What are you doing here?" The girl jumped at the voice, having not heard the newcomer orb in. "Relax, it's just me." Paige grinned with her full red lips. "What you up to?"

"Hey Paige. Nothing much. Just here to give my report. That's all."

Paige gave her a sly smile. "You're lying aren't you."

"What makes you say that?"

"Whenever you lie, you start speaking in sentence fragments."

"Do not."

The half whitelighter folded her arms. "What's going on? Boys getting on your nerves? If it makes you feel any better, I have a charge in Ireland who seems to let it slip his mind every now and again that I'm already happily married. Threatening to orb them to purgatory usually works."

For a second, Max contemplated telling Paige, but she quickly reconsidered. It was way too complicated. If the Charmed Ones got involved, that would make them and everyone connected to them targets for the Tates. That included Wyatt and Chris, even little Ladybug who wasn't even out of her mother's womb yet. No, they couldn't know anything about it. Max did her best to lie this time. She had gotten a little better at it over the years. "Yeah the two of them are going at it again. Sure is tough being in the middle of it all. So how's Henry?"

Paige's suspicion changed to a conspiratorial smile. "Actually, that's why I'm up here. I came to ask the Elders for maternity leave."

Max's eyes bulged. "What? You mean you're… you're…."

"Pregnant? Believe it missy. Phoebe went all doey-eyed when she heard that we're going to be going through pregnancy together. She had a premonition this morning. I know Zack and Cody are going to get a kick out of this. Phoebe says Henry and I are having twins."

"You're kidding!"

"I was a little skeptical, but you're not going to catch me making bets against someone who can see the future. And of course, Piper's been full of advice about the whole thing. But since most it is for Henry, and how he shouldn't argue with even the smallest craving, I can't complain."

"That's great Paige. I'm so happy for you guys. Can I feel?"

Paige giggled. "Well I'm not that far along yet. Call me in three months."

"Is it true Paige?" Paige and Max jumped. Elder Sandra had crept up on them while they had been engrossed in each other's company. Her serene elderly face wore a warm smile, and the light from the atmosphere illuminated her short blond curls like a halo. "My my my, part witch, part whitelighter, part officer of the law, your children are going to be quite intuitive. And twins on top of that? Congratulations."

"Thank you." Paige said modestly. As the kind hearted Elder, Sandra had a closer relationship to the Charmed Ones than the others, and this bond was very tight with Paige who had taken to her whitelighter duties beautifully. Even Piper, who was very open about her dislike of the Elders had a soft spot for Sandra.

"Maxine, the council just adjourned. What is it you wanted to talk to me about? If it's about Zackary looking for more cases, I promise you'll be the first ones we call if anything comes up. Tell him he needs to take it slow for awhile. We can hardly begrudge those boys a vacation."

"What? No it's not that. We already have our hands full with the one you gave us." In the midst of her excitement for Paige, Max had nearly forgotten why she had come up here in the first place.

Sandra looked confused. "The one we gave you? Which one are you talking about. I thought you'd already vanquished the wolf demon."

"No, I mean the one about Nicole and Nathan."

Now the Elder really looked concerned. "Who?"

"The supposed kidnapping." Max explained. "Nicole, our innocent who we thought we were rescuing from Nathan Tate."

Sandra's eyebrows rose to her forehead and her eyes grew wide. "Nathan Tate? We've been trying to get back in contact with Nathan for years, after we heard that he'd left the family. We thought he might need protection. But he dropped off our radar after that."

That would make sense. That may have been right around the time he took in Gabriel. The Elders wouldn't be able to track him if he had a demonic spirit lurking in his body. But why had they been keeping tabs on him in the first place? "What do you mean 'get in contact'? You mean you were going to send him a whitelighter?"

"He already had one. Some of the Tate family does, even though most of them are unaware of it. That's a gray area. Good and evil always seems to be warring within that family. None of them can really be called warlocks, since none of them have killed innocents, but with the things they do, none of them can really be called good either. But if we learn that one of them might actually come back on the path, we try to help them. That's why we have whitelighters watch over them. Nathan was one of them, and when we heard he was on the run from the family, we tried to find him, but he'd vanished. We never did learn why he left Abigail's service."

"Because he ran with one of her orphans. Nicole has been on the run with him for ten years! Are you telling me you didn't know about this?" Max was growing frantic. As far as the Elders knew, Nathan had been off the radar, and they had no clue about Nicole. Not only that, Sandra seemed to have no clue about their case, and she was of the highest ranking Elders. If she didn't know about it, none of the Elders did. But if it hadn't been them who sent Zack and Cody the case, who had?

Paige looked from the Elder, then back to the whitelighter, whose brain could almost be heard clicking into place. "Max, what's going on? Is there something you're not telling me?"

"I have to go." Was all she said before she orbed out.

**---Zack and Nicole, Nathan's Cabin---**

Zack hit the wall with a crash, sending several framed pictures to lie in a pile of shattered glass with him on the hardwood floor. Rourke trod casually to stand over him. Meanwhile, Nicole had finally managed to ram her elbow hard into Thomas' ribs. The lanky witch cringed away from her, nursing the throbbing pain in his side while trying to regain his breath. Wasting no time, she jumped across the room to crouch near where Nathan was still out cold. "Nate, wake up! We need to get out of here!" She screamed as her wrist was grabbed suddenly. Thomas was faster than she had expected and already had her arm twisted behind her back.

"Oh, he kan't hear you. That sleeping potion we hit him with should keep him under for another three hours or so."

Zack was too distracted with trying to get to Nicole, he made the grave mistake of forgetting who he was really fighting. Rourke snatched him up by his throat, hardening his hand until it made a grip of iron. With his breath leaving him, Zack thrust one more fireball into his enemy. Rourke merely laughed his low grating laugh as Zack's attack passed easily through his torso. He had made his stomach intangible, allowing the fireball to go through him and blast into the wall behind him. "Are you sure you're one of the seven? Your little witch over there pakks more of a punch than you." Zack fought through the cloud that was starting to engulf his vision as Rourke's grip began to choke the life out of him. If he didn't do something fast, his esophagus was going to snap. He placed both his hands around Rourke's massive forearm, and instinctively called on his power. The heat from his hand proved to be too much even for Rourke's magically hardened hand, and he quickly recoiled his arm, dropping Zack panting on the floor. Meanwhile, Nicole seemed to have re-gathered her wits and used her own strange blue flames to force Thomas' grip to slacken. She ran to help Zack to his feet while the two brothers reunited to corner them both.

"I'm done playing with them." Rourke growled. "I don't kare what Abigail says, the dustmop is toast." He opened his clenched fist into a claw that began to spark with very familiar energy. His energy ball buzzed and circuited in his hand, ready to throw with a twitch of the wrist.

Thomas was pointing three of his fingers at them, each with darts ready to fire. "I kouldn't agree more."

Zack's mind was racing to figure a way out of this, but both Tates had him cornered with attacks ready to fire before he could even hope to conjure any flames. The only thing he had time to think about was putting himself protectively in front of Nicole.

"Isn't that kute" Thomas sneered, "Be the hero and take the bullets for her like a man. I tip my hat in respekt." Zack winced as the energy ball and darts flew from their caster's hands with point blank accuracy, the darts aimed for his head, and the ball for his chest. Would he be able to withstand it? Or would he just fall to the ground while Thomas and Rourke carted Nicole off to that still unseen enemy they worked for? There was a sound in the air that sounded like a whistling or a chime. The sound made Zack open his eyes in bewilderment to see the Tates' magical attacks being flung back at them at full force. Thomas and Rourke's eyes widened stupidly. They didn't have time to move or block or do anything but stand there like sheep until they were both struck by their own spells. Thanks to Thomas' height, he was struck in the shoulders rather than the fatal area of the head he had aimed for on Zack. But it was enough to stagger him to his knees. He raised a hand to his shoulder and was horrified to find it drenched in blood. Rourke had managed to harden his chest in time to only receive a glancing wound from his energy ball, but it still seemed to have stunned him.

But Zack's eyes weren't on his attackers. Instead they remained locked on what had saved him and Nicole; a spinning disk of shimmering white energy. It was then that the light from the doorway caught his attention. Framed in the still bright sunlight outside, was the figure of a woman. The sun bounced off her waist length sandy blond hair like an angel's. But her pale mouth was hardened into a thin line as her hazel eyes remained pinned on Thomas and Rourke. Out of her red sleeve she pulled a vial of white potion—sleeping potion by the looks of it, and with a professionally accurate throw it shattered into a white mushroom cloud that filled the brothers' nostrils, forcing their eyes to roll into the back of their head. They landed on the floor in a heap on top of one another.

"Come on!" Gwen called to them. "We haven't got much time before they wake up." To Zack it felt like he had been unable to breathe ever since that fateful night on the highway near the river, and that seeing her alive, here and now, his lungs had finally allowed him to take in air again.

"Gwen? How did you… where have you…" There were a lot of questions he had for her, but none of them mattered right now. Whatever her answers were, they couldn't possibly be as important as it was to see her standing in front of him, breathing and warm. He didn't feel himself cross the floor to meet her, but he still found himself at the door. And before he knew it, his arms were around her, pulling her to him tightly. He felt hot tears trying to force their way out of his eyes, but there was no way he'd let them spoil this moment. "You're alright." He said as if to convince himself that she wasn't going to disappear in an instant.

"It's… good to see you too." Gwen stammered. With her face so close to his, it was easy to feel the heat rising in her cheeks. "Can I breath now?"

Zack released her slowly, fearing she was just an illusion that would fade into the sunlight and that hanging onto her kept her real and near. She was smiling back at him with those moon colored lips and hazel eyes. Her pale face was slightly pinker than normal. "Honestly," she almost laughed in her musical voice "I'm out of the picture for a few days and you're nearly axed. You're lucky I found you."

"How _did_ you find us?" Zack asked, sounding mildly impressed. "This place isn't all that easy to find even if you know where it is. And it's protected from scrying."

"It may be shielded, but _you're_ not." She declared proudly, holding up a small GPS unit she had in her other hand. On its screen was a blinking red dot in the center of a geographical map of the area. Jacked into its port was a quartz scrying crystal. "I'm getting pretty good at this. I would have been here sooner, but my GPS can't handle amethyst, so I had to settle for quartz. I'm just lucky I still had this to scry for you with." She reached into her sleeve and pulled out another vial of potion. But this one was a deep red color, and Zack realized with a pang of regret that it was the vanquishing potion he had made for Nathan. "It fell into the water with me. Lucky huh?"

"Yeah… lucky." Zack bit his lip. If Nicole ever found out what that was really for… he didn't even want to think about it. The first thing he was going to do when they were all free and clear was destroy it. Whatever Nathan had done to manipulate Nicole, he had at least been kind to her, and overall he was still human. He didn't deserve to be vanquished. It was at that moment that he noticed that Nicole was no longer at his side. He turned around to find her kneeling by Nathan who had remained unconscious the entire battle.

She hefted his arm and slung it over her shoulder in a sad attempt to get him to his feet. She looked at Zack with her sad blue eyes that looked very intense in the middle of her black hair and olive skin. "Zack please, he's too heavy for me."

He bent to help her get Nathan up. He was dead weight and moving him would be very difficult. Meanwhile, Gwen was crouching near Thomas and feeling around his pockets. "Don't bother trying to get to your car. Thomas already blinked to it and slashed the tires."

"So how are we getting out of here? We can't outrun them if they wake up, especially carrying him." Zack indicated Nathan with his head, being unable to use his hands.

Having no luck finding whatever she was searching for with Thomas, Gwen moved to Rourke. She reached into his left pocket and smiled. Triumphantly she pulled out a set of keys with a lock-control button on it. She tapped the button with her thumb, and the group heard a faint bleep somewhere behind the cabin. "They must have hidden it in the brush so you wouldn't see it. The keys say it's an SUV. Sounds like fun." She grinned and tossed the keys to Zack. "Cars are your forte. We can stuff him in the back seat. Now let's go."

Zack smiled at her cleverness. "It sure is good to have you back." He couldn't help but notice the pink return to her cheeks as she grinned back at him.

**---Cody, Max, Trevor; Suite 2330---**

The swirling cloud of sparkling orbs announced Max's return to the Suite. "Quick, where are Zack and Nicole?"

"Nice to see you again too." Trevor answered sarcastically, not even looking up from the laptop's screen.

Cody also seemed unable to pick up on the urgency in her voice. He kept his focus on the pot in front of him and asked halfheartedly, "What did the Elders have to say?"

"We need to get to Zack and Nicole! I think they're heading into a trap!"

"Really?" Trevor said skeptically. "Looks like they're heading right back here to me. They dropped off the screen awhile ago when they reached the cabin, but they must be out of its field now. They're coming in fast. Has Zack really never been pulled over?"

Max crossed the room around the coffee table to study the screen. "Where are they? I'll orb to them."

"They'll be here in a few minutes anyway." Cody ignored her plea again. "What did you want to"— it took the other two a moment to notice he had stopped mid sentence.

"Martin, you okay?" Trevor looked up from the screen for the first time to see Cody swaying back and forth over the counter. He had a dreamy expression on his face and his eyes seemed heavy. Max moved to catch him, but she moved too late. He swooned and fell to the kitchen tile with a thud. Both she and Trevor jumped up to go help him. Trevor made the foolish mistake of looking into the pot Cody had been stirring just before he had passed out. "What do you suppose he was—oi" was all he managed to get out of his mouth before he too was swaying on his feet. It didn't take long for him to fall onto the floor. It was nothing short of a miracle that someone with that much caffeine in their system could just keel over like that.

Max shook her head and examined the pot from a safe distance. It smelled like a sleeping draft. But Cody had been trying to make a stun potion. It wasn't like him to make a mistake like that. She crouched by him to pry his fingers open which were still clenched around a handful of the ingredient he had been adding; crushed rosemary. But there was something odd about it. It didn't smell right. She remembered with a pang in her gut that while she and Cody had been together (much happier memories for her than now) they had played a sort of game where she'd try to guess the potion he had been making by the scent of the herbs on his clothes. He used to try and confuse her by mixing it with a false ingredient, but she had seen through his ruse every time. The herb in her hand now did smell of rosemary, but with a pinch of something else. Everything made sense when she realized it was wormwood, a key ingredient for sleeping drafts, but only to be added when the potion was safely bottled. Someone had tampered with their ingredients, and tricked Cody into drugging himself. The smell permeated through the entire suite now, and would likely knock out any living thing in the room. Max was grateful that being a whitelighter made her immune to drugging.

There was a noise in the living room, like a guitar string being grated sharply against metal. Someone had blinked into the suite. Max ducked behind the counter, listening for the intruder while she pulled her athame from where she kept it concealed on her back. The footsteps on the other side of the counter were light sounded like heels. The newcomer was female, and petite in stature. With her trained senses, Max listened, waiting for her to get closer. She was walking around the coffee table. She was moving for the kitchen. A resounding click told her she had crossed from the carpet and onto the tile. Max bounded to her feet and pointed her dagger at the newcomer, readying an electrical attack, but once her eyes met the doll-like blue ones of Rose Tate, the whitelighter was unable to move. She struggled against whatever was stopping her, but her arms seemed bound by some invisible force. Her legs were frozen as well.

"Tough luck kookie." Rose sneered from behind the odd white mask that covered her mouth, preventing the draft in the room from affecting her. "I only gave you a taste of my power last time. It's true that I kan konfuse the senses, but that is only part of it." The blond witch moved raised her hand and twirled her fingers with a quick jerk—a puppet master moving the strings of a marionette. Max's arm jerked to the left, pointing the dagger away from her enemy. "The real trick is eye kontakt. I need that first to establish kontrol. But once I have that, I kan make you do whatever I please." Max wrenched her eyelids shut. Rose merely chuckled "Nice try. But once my strings are attached, there's nothing you kan do. Only I kan kut them." She moved around the counter and put her pale hand on Max's face. "So, how do you like being my doll?"

Max leered at the other woman. "You twisted—"

"Ah-ah-ah." Rose shook her head, pinching two of her fingers together. Max's lips locked up immediately. "Kan't have that." She moved her arm again. This time Max's arm, the one that was holding her knife went downward. If she could have screamed she would have. Rose was moving her weapon towards Cody. It went lower and lower until its blade was resting its cold metal against his throat. He seemed completely undisturbed in his drug induced sleep. Max couldn't fight Rose's power, and Cody was out cold. If she wanted, the twisted blond could force Max to end his life. Tears were forcing their way out of her chocolate colored eyes from the strain of trying to pry her weapon away from Cody's helpless sleeping form.

"He looks so vulnerable this way." Rose jeered. "A komplex little kreature when he's awake, so sensitive, and yet so kommanding. I think I prefer him this way, so weak and defenseless. Let's not wake him."

**---Zack, Gwen, Nicole; Tipton Hotel Boston, Elevator---**

"Are you sure Nathan will be alright?" Nicole asked again.

"Well we couldn't very well try and drag him up here while he's still unconscious." Gwen answered flatly. "That would draw too much attention. He'll be fine in the back seat until we can get Max to orb him up here."

Zack put a comforting hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "He'll be fine. And you'll be the first thing he sees when he wakes up." Nicole smiled back at him. The elevator dinged, signaling their arrival to their floor. Nicole bolted ahead of them and didn't stop until she reached Suite 2330.

"Energetic little thing isn't she?" Gwen chided. Zack grinned, glad to see that with Nathan back, Nicole was back to her old self. But his grin faded when he saw that Nicole had stopped at the door and was making no move to open it. What's wrong?"

Her pale blue eyes flickered between them and the doorway. "I… I think it's Max. She feels… angry and frustrated."

"That's normal." Zack remarked.

"But I've never felt it like this. It's different somehow."

"She probably had a fight with Cody. You've never seen that, but she can get vicious." He slid his key into the electronic slot and pushed the door open. "I wouldn't be surprised if she had a knife to his…… " The three of them froze as soon as they were inside. Rose Tate with her twisted pink lipstick smile was sitting cross legged on their couch with her arms spread out. But she wasn't the one who held their attention. Max was on her knees on the floor. She was holding Cody in a sitting position so that he was facing them. His head lolled over, too out of it to even notice Max's dagger resting against the base of his neck. Max wore a blank expression, but the tears streaming down her face gave her away.

Rose jeered at them from her safe vantage point. "It's about time. I was beginning to wonder if Thomas and Rourke had been too much for you."

Both Zack and Nicole seemed to be on the same train of thought. Their hands were already level with their eyes and alight with crimson and blue flames. But Rose merely raised her finger in a tisk tisk gesture. "Kareful, you might very well make your whitelighter do something she'll regret." To make her point, she twitched her fingers again. Max pressed her knife closer to Cody's throat. With what little will she was able to make use of, she shook her head, her eyes pleading Zack to stay his hand.

Zack turned to Gwen, counting on her intelligence to get them out of this one. She nodded back. She already had a plan. She hissed her words under her breath so that only he and Nicole could hear. Her lips were barely moving. "On the count of three, I'll deflect her power, and you two hit her. One…"

Rose didn't seem to notice their strategizing. She simply tossed her blond hair aside seductively. "Now be a good boy and hand over the girl, and you, your brother, and everyone else kan forget this ever happened."

"Two."

Zack's knuckles tensed. He could feel the heat rising in his chest and flowing down his arm into his fist.

"I'm waiting." The blond with cackled.

"Three!"

In the same instant, Zack and Nicole flung their hands at the demented blond. Two fireballs, one red, one blue, shot across the suite, headed straight for their mark. Rose's hateful blue eyes grew wide with surprise and fear. She didn't have time to move. The fireballs would have surely struck her if it hadn't been for the shimmering white disk that appeared in their path. The two witches only had enough time to dodge their own deflected fireballs to the side, unable to avoid being struck in the shoulder and thrown to the floor on their stomachs. Zack's vision was going hazy. All he could see was what was directly in front of his face. A black heeled boot crossing the room—Gwen's boot. He rolled onto his back to look up at her. She was standing over him with her hands on her hips. Her smile was not the one he remembered. It was cold and twisted like Rose, and her hazel eyes gleamed in triumph.

"Poor poor Zackary." She gloated. "Too bad you didn't do your homework. But that never really was your forte was it?" She placed the toe of her boot on his chin, forcing him to tilt his head from side to side, almost like she was trying to determine if it would look good on her wall. "Who do you suppose it was that tampered with your potion ingredients to drug your brother?" Zack noticed a discrepancy in her voice. There was something different about the way she was talking. Different, and very wrong. "I figured it wouldn't hurt to do a little more damage while I added the explosives to the one I was going to use. But tell me, did you like my disappearing _akt_?" Then he caught it. Her voice had changed because she was no longer hiding her accent, an accent that would have given her away in a heartbeat. "That's right Zackary. If you or your brother, or even your whitelighter had bothered to run a full background check, you would have diskovered just who you were dealing with." She annunciated every word of her next sentence, letting the words drop from her mouth with her musical voice like distilled poison. "Bekause you see, my full name is Guinevere, Rosalind, Solidus, Tate."


	11. Chapter 11: Betrayal

Many apologies for the wait. I know leaving y'all with the cliffhanger in chapter ten was cruel even for me. I won't lie that I've been procrastinating, but I've become re-inspired since I am now apparently in competition with Phoenix786. And here I thought I was the only one weird enough to crossover the two shows. Anyway, enjoy the chapter, please R&R, don't own anything, don't profit from this blah blah blah.

**Chapter 11: Betrayal**

**---Gwen and Rose, Suite 2330, Tipton Hotel Boston---**

"So what do we do with them kousin?" Rose asked in her unpleasantly shrill voice, watching Gwen step lightly over their victims while she sat comfortably on her enemy's couch. Gwen didn't answer at first, seeming too pre-occupied with making sure that Zack and Nicole were actually out cold. "You know, I still have the whitelighter over here. She kould take out all three of them with that handy little knife. The police would think it was a lover's quarrel, teenage angst and all that." She smiled wickedly at Max who still held her weapon to Cody against her will. She glared defiantly at her captor. No doubt there would be a string of curses flying from her mouth if the witch weren't holding it closed for her.

Gwen stood up, seeming satisfied with her work. Rose couldn't help but notice the way her hazel eyes lingered on Zack for a moment before she started snapping orders in her usual way. "I believe Grandmamma specifikally ordered us to keep them alive."

"So you've started kalling her that again?" The other woman jeered. "You know, that order she gave us not to kill these Proktor boys seemed very out of karakhter for Abigail, don't you think? You would know after all. You're her sukcessor."

"Even she is kapable of kompassion when she sees how valuable these two kan be. She has a sharp eye for talent. She must have changed her mind after I gave her my report. These boys are powerful."

Rose nodded in agreement. "Powerful and attraktive, wouldn't you say?" There was a little more implication in her words then Gwen would have liked.

"I hope you don't mean you're thinking about kollekting another little boy-toy Rose. I need you fokused."

Rose shrugged, that pearly white smile never leaving her face. "So if she wanted them kaptured, just how do you suppose we're going to get them all out of here like this? We kan't blink very far with this many people."

"I'll blink them to the back alley behind the restaurant one at a time. You keep your hold on Max until I have them all safely outside. Then we'll blink her with us together. In the meantime, klear out the evidence."

"I don't think we have anything to fear from the inspektor you told us about. It sounds like he suspekts them and thinks you're either dead or missing."

"It's not him I'm worried about." Gwen narrowed her hazel eyes at her contemptible second cousin. "Zack let some troubling news slip to me. Natalia of the Tribunal is on our trail now."

Not even Rose could hide the shiver that went up and down her spine at the mention of that name. One of the most powerful demons still alive that had managed to slip through the cracks of the Charmed Ones' onslaught of the Underworld. The only surviving member of the old guard of the underworld whose influence and power had been on par with demons like The Source, and Zankou. Being made a neutral observer on the Tribunal hadn't made her any less dangerous or cunning. "What does she want with us? We've been so kareful, taken so many measures, the Tribunal kan't be onto us already."

"Apparently, she has a konnektion to Zack and Kody. I had forgotten that she was also of the Seven. By involving them, we've stirred up a hornet's nest, and the only way we're going to survive it is if we play our kards right. We'll talk more about this later. Right now we need to get out of here. I'll take Nikole first. Are Thomas and Rourke in the van?"

Rose nodded. "They're waiting and ready with the sedatives. They should long enough to get them back to the estate."

"Good. I'll take Nikole first." She bent to place her hand on Nicole's shoulder. A look of confusion crossed her face pale. She ran her fingers lightly over her shoulder, left exposed by her tank top. She felt cold. But her moment of contemplation was cut short by a thunderous crash. Both women looked to the door which fell to the floor of the suite, cracked in two. Gwen only caught the flash of black out of the corner of her eye before there was another crash. The couch Rose had been sitting on only moments ago was flipped over with the blond woman lying on the floor, pinned down by a pair of long muscled arms with unnatural bulging black veins. She had slipped up and forgotten about Nathan, who now had Rose pinned under his arms, leering at her with the glassy black eyes of Gabriel. And with Rose down, Max was on her feet. Acting quickly, Gwen put up her deflection disc just as the whitelighter's purple lightning shot from her dagger. Max dove out of the way and charged Gwen, knife raised. But the pale witch had a trick of her own. Deflection was the only power she had told them about, but it wasn't the only one in her arsenal. Max's knife was blocked by one that had simply appeared in Gwen's hand.

Max's brown eyes followed the blade to find that it was inlaid into a steel gauntlet that had magically fastened itself around Gwen's forearm. The witch maneuvered her blade expertly, knocking Max's dagger away and delivered a heeled kick into her stomach. "I'm quite skilled in many different forms of martial arts Max. And since I am skilled in blade konjuring, I have also been instrukted in the ways of the sword. This weapon is kalled a pata, a sword unique to Northern India. It's my favorite, bekause it allows me to employ both. Want to see?" She swung her blade again, aiming for Max where her shoulder met her neck. Max retracted her stance just in time to block, but the other girl was definitely more skilled than she was. In a few quick maneuvers, she twisted Max's athame out of the way, elbowing her in the chest with the same arm and bringing the flat side of the blade hard against her head. The whitelighter swooned and staggered back. Gwen used this opportunity to turn her attention to her fallen cousin.

With her other hand she shot an energy ball into Nathan's back. The demon powered creature reared and screeched something terrible before rounding on her with those horrid black eyes. His sleeveless top allowed her to see the rippling black veins that coursed with Gabriel's strength. She had fought him before and barely escaped. But she was no longer hiding her powers or her identity. But looking at that fierce gaze told not even that would be enough. She'd have to try a different tactic. As he readied to advance on her, she narrowed her hazel eyes at him. She no longer saw Gabriel, the ferocious demon who possessed witches. She just saw Nathan. Something she had tried to force to the back of her mind was now going to be her advantage.

Nathan moved with his unnatural speed, ramming his forearm into her throat, pressing her back up against the wall. Her slender frame was like plush beneath his weight. His other hand held her arm to the side, preventing the use of her blade. He leered down at her. He was about a head taller than her, and his arms were easily two of hers. He wasn't as big as Rourke, but he was definitely deadlier. Gwen coughed through the pressure on her neck and said in a hoarse voice, "You wouldn't kill me, would you Unkle Nathan?" She could feel his grip slacken almost instantly. She could probably wriggle her way free by force, but that wasn't her style. "Don't you rekognize me? You told me once I had the prettiest hazel eyes."

The fierce gaze that his face had been locked in softened, like shifting a mask. "Gwen?" He said in that strange voice that sounded like there were two people speaking. "Little Gwen? Art's girl?"

"Not anymore." She answered harshly. "Your brother and his wife are dead."

"But… you were so gentle." There was anguish in his voice now.

"I was nine. The last time you saw that little girl was ten years ago. But why should you kare? You didn't even have the decency to tell her goodbye before you vanished. Leaving her without her only playmate while her father raised her to be a leader, and her mother trained her to be a weapon."

"Your mother." Nathan's eyes became light again, fading from glassy black to the icy blue shade they had always been. "What did she do to you?"

Gwen's pale lips curved into a triumphant smile as she slipped her other hand between the two of them. Nathan made a move to stop her, too late. She rammed her energy ball into his stomach, throwing him off of her with such force that he crashed into the opposite wall and fell to the floor in a heap. His eyes fluttered open as the edges of his vision started to go black. All he could make out were noises of more struggle and the clanging of steel. Vaguely he could make out a blur of brown as the whitelighter jumped back into the fray. The last thing he heard was the voice of his niece, now the harsh and commanding tone of the successor of the Tate line.

"Rose, grab the girl and let's get out of here! She's the main objektive. We kan't sukceed without her!"

Nicole! He moved his arms, trying to push himself back to his feet. The monster within him growled in fury, but it was half hearted. The distinct sound of two blinks and the warm feel of blood on his fingers—his blood was the last thing he could make sense of before his face hit the carpet again.

**---One Hour Later---**

Looking down, air whipping through his hair, the clouds parted to show him a sight he knew well. Boston looked so beautiful from the air. All those lights sparkling like a cluster of stars. He drifted closer. He was flying? If he were in his right state of mind this would have seemed strange, but right now it felt perfectly natural. But something more out of place held his attention now. Those lights he saw were not the lights of the city. It was the flickering of flames. The entire city seemed shrouded in its blaring orange light. A thousand screams could be heard below as the fire swept through the streets and licked at the walls of every building. In the center of the city, the flames exploded into a mushroom cloud. That explosion held his gaze as it began to move. It wasn't moving the way fire should. It was shaping itself into something. The cloud of flames was actually growing wings. And from its crown sprouted a head with a hooked beak. A great fiery bird had emerged from the flames and was flying over head to cover the rest of the city in its wings.

He was drifting lower, lower, the smoke was choking him now. All he could see was the harsh light of the flames and the haze of the smoke. He was no longer flying. He was falling. He could feel himself plummeting to the city below. Even through the smoke, the spires of the rooftop of the Tipton hotel were clear as he fell toward it at incredible speed. The heat enveloped his body. He hit the roof, and then… cold. Cold and wet. He coughed and gasped in surprise.

Zack lurched forward to find himself back in the suite. A pair of blue-green eyes were over looking him with a toothy grin beneath them. In Trevor's hand was an empty glass whose contents were now splattered across Zack's face. "Rise and shine."

Zack moaned and rubbed his eyes, stumbling back to his feet, realizing he was still on the floor where Gwen had blasted him. _Gwen _he thought. That face, that gorgeous face he had trusted, thought of as a friend in that short time he had known her, the same girl he had compared to Maddie, the same girl he had been wracked with guilt over ever since that night at the bridge. Her return from nowhere in the nick of time had seemed like a miracle then. It had all been a horrible lie. And that cold smile she had worn told him she had enjoyed every minute of manipulating him, gaining his trust, only to get him and the people he loved to do her dirty work. She was no better than Natalia or Rose. He felt so… betrayed wasn't exactly the right word. This was the first time he'd ever been treated this way by a woman, and that stung him a little more than he cared to admit. He felt used. But he realized with a jolt that this wasn't the time to worry about that. He was a witch first, and he had no idea where his innocent was. "Where's Nicole? What happened? Gwen, she—"

"We know kid." Trevor steadied him by putting a hand on his shoulder and helped him to his feet.

"Max figured it out when she went Up There." Cody said. Zack saw his brother for the first time since he'd been knocked out. He looked disgruntled, and from the looks of his wet hair it seemed that Trevor had woken him back up the same way he had done to Zack. "Turns out she intercepted our case request when she found out who we were. She figured we'd have better luck than her family since Nathan wasn't running from us."

Trevor nodded. "She went through a lot to get the drop on you guys, intercepting your case, tampering with your potion ingredients, she even learned how to drop her accent just so you wouldn't catch on. They must want Nicole really bad."

"Nicole! Where is she?! What happened?!"

"Steady, steady, you'll have to get Max to look at that wound." A sharp pain in his shoulder where Trevor touched him reminded Zack that he had recently been hit by his own fireball. "Hey Max, when you're ready Zack needs some attention over here."

"I'm a little busy." Max replied bitterly. Zack followed her voice with his eyes to see her on the couch, sitting across from someone who she was applying her healing touch to. Her hands were glowing with a soft warm light as she applied them to the person on the couch with her. Zack found those familiar icy blue eyes pinned on him. Nathan was here. When had that happened? And Why was Max healing him? He tensed when they made eye contact. Nathan kept his eyes firmly on Zack, but something was different about his gaze now. When he had worked as a bellhop, he had never looked at Zack and Cody with anything more than annoyance. But when they had seen his true self, that gaze had always been furious. There was no anger now. It looked more like… curiosity.

Nathan stared a little longer before he finally spoke with the answer to Zack's question that no one wanted to give. "Gwen has her. She's probably taking her back to Abigail as we speak."

Max sighed as she finished healing Nathan and looked back at him with sincere apology written across her features. "I'm sorry Zack. I tried. They got to her and blinked before I could do anything."

Zack's chest started to burn hotter than the wound on his shoulder.

**---Gwen, Tate Beachside estate---**

"So in the end, you were able to kapture Nikole, but we had to leave the others behind." Abigail said casually to her granddaughter. "Well I suppose that's better than nothing. Besides, now Nathan has to kome to us. You did very well Guinevere. Your skill at deception is sekond to none."

"Thank you grandmamma." Gwen bowed her head respectfully to the matriarch of her family from where she knelt at her bedside. "When do you suppose we kan expekt them?"

"You are the future head of the family Guinevere. When do _you_ think they'll make their move?" Abigail studied her granddaughter with a look of appraisal. The only thing that annoyed her Gwen more was how Tituba was staring at her with that look of boredom she always wore.

She kept her features straight as she answered. "The best possible time to move in would be sometime when we're all in publik, where we kan't all use our powers easily. They won't kome here where we're at our most powerful. And the charity benefit we're holding at the Boston Children's museum has been widely publicized. If they're going to get klose to us to find out where Nikole is, it will be there."

"And how exaktly do you plan to stay one step ahead of them?"

"Don't worry Grandmamma. I already have a kountermeasure in place. It will definitely allow us to keep them in check." She went on to explain just how she was going to keep the upper hand over their enemies. Abigail nodded in approval.

"Excellent Guinevere. You have your father's discipline and diplomacy, but you have that kutthroat steel trap of a mind that your mother valued. You'll make a fine head of the family." She placed the china cup she had been drinking from back on the platter that lay in her lap and snapped her fingers, signaling Tituba to take it away. "Very well, that is all. Go see to it that the necessary preparations are made."

"Yes Grandmamma." Gwen stood back up and curtsied before turning to leave. But in her old age, Abigail had forgotten to mention something.

"Oh, and Guinevere,"

With the slightest hint of annoyance, Gwen turned back around to face her grandmother. "Yes Grandmamma?"

"I agreed to grant your request and have the lives of those Proktor boys spared, out of simple curiosity. You seem set that they kan be turned, and I agree that they would be valuable assets if that were true. But keep in mind; if I believe it is impairing your judgment, I'll have to rekonsider. Thomas never misses."

It irked Gwen how calmly Abigail could explain how she was going to blackmail her. So she was going to dangle Zack's life in front of her face like a carrot on a string for a horse? But she'd bite her tongue for now. "Yes Grandmamma, I understand."

"Very well then. You may go."

**---Nicole, elsewhere in the estate---**

Torchlight bounced off the walls of cavernous room, casting unsettling shadows in its wake. The stone ceiling was all she could see. But it was enough to feel the safe embrace that held her small form now to keep her from being frightened. She didn't even cry when that tall dark man with black hair and beard, gazing down at her with dark hungry eyes, though he frightened her immensely. Those hands around her told her everything was going to be okay. But he was taking her, taking her away from that safe embrace, that fortress of protection. Why? Why was he reaching for her? What did he want? But once he had her, her world became as dark as his eyes.

She gasped and lurched forward in the tiny bed, finding herself back in the tiny bedroom that had been deemed to be her cell for now. It was decorated with girly wallpaper that was far too childish for her or anyone she had seen when she had been dragged here, and the faded color of the room stated that it had been a long time since this room had been used. If her powers had been working, she could have blasted through these walls like they were Styrofoam. But those sedatives that strange girl Tituba kept forcing on her made using her powers like trying to make a tight fist when your hands are numb from intense cold. But at least it was working on her empathy as well. It felt nice not to have to feel the anger of everyone in the area. She sat forward and curled her knees to her chest, turning her thoughts to that recurring nightmare. What did it mean? She hadn't really thought of it since she had started living with Zack and Cody. She hadn't had a single nightmare since then. For once she had slept with normal dreams that a sixteen year old girl should dream about. Silly things like Zack riding off with her into sunset on a white stallion, dressed in shining armor. She'd be mortified if he ever found out about those, but she'd choose it over seeing that man again every night.

She started when she heard the bolt to her door click. It opened to admit the dark skinned girl that had become her warden for the time being. Nicole had to agree that of everyone she could have chosen, Tituba was the best candidate. At least unlike Thomas or Rose or any of the others, she couldn't talk.

"You've got another good hour before you have to drug me up again." She said tartly. She couldn't be sure, but she thought she saw a quick snicker tug at the corners of Tituba's mouth. The older girl paid her no mind and simply placed a small platter of cakes on the nightstand against the wall. They looked delicious, and judging from the way they were arranged on the plate, they had been prepared with care. "Um… thank you." Tituba nodded in response. "Hey, not that I'm complaining, but why are you being so nice to me? I'm a prisoner aren't I? Aren't I supposed to be chained up somewhere, living only on a crust of bread and a glass of water or something like that?" The look Nicole received from her was one of confusion. "You're right. That's a little too cliché." Tituba nodded again in agreement. Nodding seemed to be the only way she could communicate.

She went about her normal obsessive routine of straightening things in the room, even though they didn't really need fixing. Aside from the bed, Nicole hadn't really touched anything else. She had already found that the window did not open and was made of bullet proof glass. She found it odd that a family of witches would take precautions against something as mundane and mortal as bullets. But perhaps they weren't just a mafia in the magical world. Once she was through, Tituba curtsied politely and made to leave.

"Hey thanks again for the cakes. Think you can bake a key into it next time?" she said jokingly.

Tituba opened the door to exit, but turned and face Nicole, looking at her with an unreadable expression. Then to Nicole's shock, she opened her mouth and said "Just be safe." Then she gently clicked the door shut.


	12. Chapter 12:Infiltration

**A/N:** Very very sorry for the long wait. Perhaps this chapter will make up for it. There have been several reasons for the delay. The most obvious being laziness. The second being the Holiday season and I've been on vacation in my old hometown in California. But lastly was that I was having serious writer's block. I wanted this one to be perfect since it expands on two of the most important relationships in the story. So I hope you can find it all in your hearts to forgive me. Once more, I do not own Charmed, the Suite Life, or any of the songs referenced in this chapter, nor do I profit from writing this. I do it strictly for fun. Thank you.

**Chapter 12: Infiltration**

**---Tate Charity Ball, Boston Children's Museum---**

The Museum had closed early for the big event tonight, and outside the building, prestigious guests, dressed in evening gowns and tuxedoes were pulling up in their limousines. The plaza had been decorated with lights and a stage had been set up for the entertainment. There was also food for the guests. Each of them were reputed guests that Abigail Tate invited every year provided that they make a generous donation to the establishment for the good of "the young minds of our future". However, around the back of the "Milk Hood"; an ice cream stand that stood in another part of the plaza shaped like a giant carton of milk, some uninvited guests were arriving, not in a limo, but in a cloud of orbs.

"Whew, that takes a lot out of me," Max wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, "orbing three people at once."

"Alright, so we're all clear on the plan?" Cody said again for the umpteenth time.

"Thanks for your concern." Max retorted.

Cody ignored her. That was getting easier since her jibes were so frequent now. "Zack, you okay?"

"Huh? Yeah I'm fine."

"Look, I know you're rattled. Gwen betrayed and used all of us. You're bound to be a little off your game. Just try and concentrate."

"What? Oh… yeah. No, I get it. Nicole's the priority. We get to one of them while they're alone, and get Nathan to blink them out. Then we use them to get past security at the manor and find out where they're keeping Nicole. So who are we going after?" Zack tried to put on his all-business front to not let on to his brother and Max what was really on his mind.

_**---Suite 2330, Tipton Hotel Boston, three hours ago---**_

_"Your mistrust is understandable." Nathan said, keeping his voice irritatingly level while Zack continued to rage at him. He had been waiting for his chance to grill Nathan, and now that the two of them were alone, he was going to let him have it._

_"You think?! I don't care what Nicole thinks of you, You've crossed the line too many times for me to just welcome you onto our team!"_

_"I understand that Zack. I've done terrible things. I'm the first to admit that. But you must know that everything I did was for her. Nothing matters more to me than her safety, and I am sincerely asking for your help in getting her back. I don't expekt you to forgive me, just help me."_

_"I'm not helping you, I'm helping her. And if you want my opinion, I'm doing a way better job of it than you!"_

_Nathan rose from the couch and stepped closer to the younger witch. Zack only came up to his chest, but he was determined to keep staring him down. "What do you know of what I've gone through for her? I've been on the run with her for ten years, keeping her from people who would have no sekond thoughts about taking me out to get to her, my own family no less. I turned my back on everything I knew for her. What have you done? You led one of the most dangerous witches on the planet right to her."_

_"Gwen found Nicole because of you!"_

_"No, __**you **__led Gwen to Nikole. She found her bekause you needed to play the hero for the magikal kommunity again. Your need for danger and attention is pathetik. What did Gwen do that got you to trust her? Bat her pretty eyes at you? She used to do that when she wanted to stay up later or skip dinner and get dessert. I kould have seen through that. Think on that and tell me you're doing better than I am."_

_"It wasn't like that!"_

_"Please. I know your type. You thrive on attention. You love the glory you're no doubt konstantly receiving for saving the day. You're so ready to take on the world with only your fists that you never stop to use your brain! Far be it from you to see through a pretty face."_

_"Okay, well what did you do? You went and turned yourself into a demon! That's a great way to protect her. How safe do you think she is, on the run with a monster!"_

_Nathan's nostrils flared and Zack heard a growl deep in his throat. It made him shrink back, something he was ashamed of himself for. It had been wise though, because the whites of Nathan's eyes began to darken. But Zack wasn't about to back down now, no matter how smart that might be._

_"Ooo did I hit a nerve? I'm right aren't I? Admit it. You've done everything wrong. There were way better ways of keeping the Tate's away from her. Did you even think of going to the Elders?"_

_Nathan seemed to get smaller as he stepped back, and Zack couldn't help but smirk at his retreat. "I kouldn't. Gabriel was the only way. The family wasn't the only thing I was trying to protekt her from. Gabriel also allowed me to drop from the Elder's radar."_

_Zack's smirk faded. "Why would Nicole be in danger from the Elders? They'd do anything to keep her and you safe. They have protection programs and whitelighters, and all kinds of things to help you. You could have sent her to Magic school."_

_"In kase you've forgotten, I tried that. But… I knew it wouldn't last long. I kouldn't risk them finding out about her. Even if they'd be willing to protekt me, a member of the notorious Tate family, they'd never protekt…" he stopped, taking in Zack's expression. Whatever he was about to say, he definitely expected a reaction. _

_"They'd never protect what? Why wouldn't they want to help Nicole?"_

_"Bekause it goes against their precious rulebook to help a demon."_

_Zack felt a strange sensation through his head. He had felt this before once, when a bully at school had sent a powerful left hook into the side of his face. He had almost lost a tooth. But that was a sissy tap next to this. Nathan's eyes fixated on him were the first things in the room to come back into focus. "You're… you're lying. She's… she's good. There's not an evil bone in her body."_

_Nathan sighed, and then in the blink of an eye, he wasn't there anymore. Zack heard a quick sharp grating sound, and then Nathan reappeared behind the couch. He had blinked. But Zack had always seen him shimmer whenever he made an escape. "I kan't shimmer. Nikole kan." _

_Zack nearly fell back into the armchair by the couch. "Does… does she know?"_

_"No, I've kept it from her ever since she was young. She'd be devastated if she ever found out. She is half witch, half demon. For so long, those headaches of hers konfused me. But when you diskovered she was an empath, it made sense. She kould only feel anger at first bekause demons are pre-disposed to it." Nathan knelt by the side of the armchair to see eye to eye with the younger witch. "From the moment I met her, I knew what would happen if she stayed at that orphanage. Abigail had it under her kontrol, and I knew she'd see Nikole only as a tool, a weapon, something to be used. It's what she does. But Abigail doesn't know about her yet. And if we kan get her away from the family, I'll make sure it stays that way. But for that I need your help."_

**---Present---**

**"**Thomas." Cody's voice pulled his brother back to the present. "He's the one we're nabbing. As far as we know, his only active power is shooting darts, so he's the weakest."

Zack nodded. "Yeah, I think I can take him."

"Don't be cocky."

"It's not cocky if you're good."

"Put a cork in it you two." Max grimaced. "Trevor, are you ready with the glamours?"

"Yep. But it's been awhile since I've done this on other people. I can't guarantee any of you ending up sexy."

Cody glowered. "As long as it gets us in without being noticed, I don't care."

"Alright." Sykes rubbed his hands together and spread them out. Then he snapped both fingers. There was a flash, like from a camera, and when it cleared, the Zack, Cody, Max, and Sykes were no longer hiding behind the comically oversized carton of milk. Instead there were four strangers. Three of them were laughing at the fourth.

"What?" the glamored Cody asked. Max, who now looked like a green eyed blond, pulled a small pocket mirror out of her purse. When she held it up to Cody, he saw a filthy disgruntled hobo looking back at him. He looked at another member of the group who now bore a striking resemblance to Zack Effron. "Very funny. Now take it off."

"You said you didn't care." Sykes chuckled. The hobo grabbed him by the shirt.

"I said, give me a different face!"

"Cool your jets. I was only kidding. Let go of my shirt, or I'll make you a woman." He snapped his fingers again causing the same flash. "There."

Cody looked back into Max's mirror to find a dark haired face with a deep tan and dull brown eyes, a far cry from his usual face. Zack was wearing a similar disguise, and the two of them were dressed in semi-formal with white button down shirts and black vests and black ties. Their shirts remained untucked, and their ties hung loose, but their appearances were so mundane and everyday that they were very unlikely to be noticed. Max on the other hand was now wearing a shimmering scarlet evening gown that showed more of her torso than she would prefer. When she looked at it for the first time (only after she noticed Cody blushing and looking away) she wasn't at all happy about it.

"Something a little more tame please? And not red, what am I a temptress?"

Sykes rolled his eyes. "You people are no fun. What's the good of being able to change how you look if you're not going to let me play around a little?" He snapped his fingers once more to find a more agreeable whitelighter in their midst, now that she was wearing a simple blue blouse with flowers and a knee-length black and gray plaid skirt.

"Much better." She smiled. "Who knew you had fashion sense?"

"I just know what looks good on _you."_

Cody grimaced. "Oh brother."

After giving each other one last once over to make sure they'd blend in (and make sure Sykes didn't have any more surprises for them) they made their way towards the gathering of bright lights and guests at the plaza. They reached the outer fringe of the crowd and stopped, trying to figure out the best method of entry that would draw the least amount of attention.

"Alright, I think if we split up and meet up at the buffet we can blend right in, and then it won't look like we came in together. Now we just need to find Thomas and—"

"Can I help you boys?" The turned around slowly to find that they had been approached from behind by a mountain of a man with shades and an earpiece with a long coiled cord that disappeared behind the collar of his shirt. The suit he wore looked like it might come apart at the seems and give way to his bulk; a bouncer. "I said can I help you?"

"We um…." Cody stuttered.

"We were invited." Zack said at once. "Gwen asked us to come. We're… _kousins." _He did his best to pull off the accent that had become very familiar to him in the last week.

"Nice try." The bouncer smirked. "But if you're not on the list, I'll have to escort you out." He reached up to his earpiece and muttered an order into it. "Hey Jerry, eight o'clock, see if these guys are on the list." He waved to another man in shades across the dance floor and pointed to the group of teens in front of him. "What'd you kids say your names were again?"

Zack tried to think fast to find a name that had the slim chance of being on that list of guests, but it was a stroke of luck (or perhaps not) that he was saved by a very unexpected musical voice.

"It's alright Ricky, they're with us." Zack whirled around to see who had come to their rescue, and his stomach tied itself in a double knot. She stood clad in an evening gown of deepest crimson silk with black drawstrings down the front and an opening in the skirt. Her left shoulder remained bare while her right arm was draped in a long sleeve that hung elegantly at her forearm. The deep red made her already moonlight pale skin almost glow, and her long waist length hair of sandy blond hung in ringlets down her back. And those glistening hazel eyes seemed to glow in a dance of colors in the lights of the party.

The bouncer lowered his shades to show the girl his eyes. "Miss Guinevere, enjoying the evening?"

"Very much so. I'm sorry I didn't put them on the list. It was awful short notice. I'm glad you kould make it Zack. This is the boy I've been tutoring."

"Oh so these are the little dreamboats you've been telling us so much about." That unpleasantly shrill sentence marked an even more ominous entrance. The thin pink scar on Zack's cheek seemed to throb with her every word. Rose stood just behind Gwen in a gown that was a girlish shade of pink. Her bright blond hair hung to her shoulders while a part of it had been done up in a bun with synthetic pink rosebuds entangled in it. She had been well hidden among the crowd despite her shimmering attire. Though she was clearly a little older than Gwen, she was a very slight woman, and if they didn't know her she'd hardly be intimidating at all. She looked past Zack to his brother. "It's Kody, right?" She grinned with fiendish congeniality. "I've been just dying to meet you."

How did they know who they were? Zack glanced back at his brother briefly and was astonished to find his mop of straw colored hair back where it had been before they had glamoured themselves. Max was a chocolate eyed brunette once again, and Sykes had gone from his dreamy Zac Effron look back to his pale wiry freckled self. It was safe to assume that his own disguise was gone as well. How had their glamour been removed? He kept his face straight so he wouldn't let his surprise alert the guard.

"Well alright then," the bouncer relented politely, "if they're with you I guess they're good to stay."

"That's very kind of you. If you don't mind, I think you're needed backstage. The entertainment needs help setting up."

"I'll get right on it." Ricky smiled before nodding to the youngsters and heading for the back of the stage. With no one near enough or interested enough to hear them, the group stared intensely at the two women who remained smiling as though the enemies in front of them were honored guests.

"Surprised?" Rose cackled. "We kast a spell on the plaza that negates any aktive powers being used. We had a feeling you'd kome in disguise. We didn't want to miss you."

"You didn't need to sneak in." Gwen said in her soft musical voice. "All you had to do was ask." There was silence between the two parties. She seemed to be expecting something from them. "Well go on. Ask."

Zack and Cody exchanged glances. It was one of those looks that only twins could share where they didn't have to speak to know what the other was thinking. They'd play her game for now if it got them in. Once again, Zack acted as the spokesman. "Can we come to your party?"

"Well since you asked so nicely," she sneered "I suppose I kould let you through." He made to step forward, but she held up a hand to stop him. "On one kondition. Your first dance is with me." She held out her pale hand which was adorned today with blood red fingernails. Zack reached for it, but found his brother's hand on his shoulder.

"Are you nuts?" Cody hissed in his ear.

Zack looked him in the eye and whispered back. "I'll be fine. I've been waiting for this. Keep an eye out for Thomas." He took the witch's pale hand and allowed her to lead him to the dance floor. The two of them were soon lost from sight in the crowd.

"Think he'll be okay?" Sykes whispered.

Cody had no answer for him. He just kept staring blankly into the place in the crowd his brother and their friend-turned-enemy had vanished in.

"Well Kody, I must say you klean up quite nicely. And you look like you kould be quite the dancer." Rose smiled wickedly at him. "Perhaps you'd like to take a fine lady once or twice around the floor?"

Cody gulped, but before he could answer Max stepped in front of him. "He's with me."

Rose narrowed her eyes. "I wasn't aware the two of you were an item. You wouldn't want to look overbearing now would you? What's the harm in a dance?"

"I said he's dancing with me, now beat it." The whitelighter stood firm in her resolve. The blond witch glowered, but there was something in her eyes that didn't add up in Max's mind. Rose was afraid of her. But after what she had done to her and Cody, the little harpy had good reason to be scared of what Max would do to her if she got the chance. She was easily the bigger of the two of them.

Rose glowered back at her for a few more moments before snorting outward. "Fine, have your man-meat for now. But keep a tight leash on him bekause I always get what I want." And then she turned around so fast her blond hair spun with her before she stomped back into the party, her tiny blond head lost in the crowd.

Sykes gave Max a teasing glance. "Reeow." He said, making a cat's claw gesture.

With Rose gone, Cody was all business again. "Alright, you heard Zack. Fan out and find Thomas."

"Right you are." Sykes grinned. "I think I'll look for him over at the buffet."

Cody started to head into the party with Max at his side. Despite their spats lately, he always felt a little safer with her around. As they fell in step with each other, he put his hand around hers and whispered in her ear. "Thanks."

"For what? Look, I know we haven't been best pals lately, but you didn't think I'd let you dance with short blond and creepy did you?" He felt her grip on his hand tighten a little. He didn't know if it was to keep up their act, or if it was because she had missed this as well.

The music that had been playing earlier toned down as the party lights turned a soft shade of blue. The light a cappella harmony marked the beginning of "Falling For You" by the Cheetah Girls. Cody felt his face grow warmer. He looked at her and when she felt his eyes on her she looked at him as well. But her face turned a rosy shade of pink and she quickly looked away.

"They're playing our song." He stammered. Before he knew what he was doing he had his arm around her waist. She sighed and in her eyes he saw a mix of frustration, anger, and surprisingly sadness.

"Don't try to be all smooth with me now. You can't just get all schmaltzy and dance to something that _used _to be our song and then brush me off later." Her words cut him deep and he could tell she meant them, but she didn't fight his lead as they began swaying to the music.

"Max…" it took him awhile to find his words. He had gotten better with girls over the years, and he didn't freeze up around them the way he used to, but no girl had ever managed to break through his every defense with their gaze the way she could. "Are you telling me you regret when we were together?"

She looked at him long and hard before she answered. "No. I could never regret it. But that doesn't change things. I think we made the right choice. I guess that's why they don't want witches and whitelighters to be together."

"You can't keep blaming yourself for that. Anyone would have done the same thing if that had happened."

"How would you know? We're supposed to protect innocents."

"You had a choice; save Jane or save me and you chose me. Jane couldn't blame you for that, and she came out just fine."

"She came out with one eye."

"But if you hadn't orbed me out of the way, I might not be here. Do you think you made the wrong choice?"

Again she had to pause. "Look, you're right, I was caught up in the heat of the moment and I made the choice anyone would have made. But when I saw Jane like that because of what I did… it made me realize that we might be a little distracted. Jane was lucky, but the next innocent might have been worse off if I did it again."

"And we talked about this and we both decided you were right. So why are you so angry at me all the time?"

She sighed. "Just forget it."

"No I won't. We need to get this out in the open. We're worse off now than we were then. We're always sniping at each other, it bugs Zack, it throws off our focus, it hurts me, and I can tell it hurts you too." She didn't have an answer for that, and it was in that moment of silence that he let a confession slip. "It kind of makes me wish we had given it another try." Max set her mouth into a hard line and scrunched up her nose the way she did when she was miffed, and stomped on his foot. "Owe! What was that for?"

"No! You _cannot _have second thoughts. You've already moved on."

"What are you talking about? Owe!" He yelped again as her foot came down unforgiving again over his toes while she still stepped in perfect time to the music.

"What am I _talking_ about?" She brought her foot down again with the emphasis on the word. "How about _Irma_, or _Barbara_, or _Vanessa_, or _Jessica_, or_ Janice_, or _Bailey_?"

Cody winced as his foot started to lose feeling. It was a wonder to him how she could romp his toes with such venom and still be in time to the song. "Irma was before we were going out! You can't get mad over her. Vanessa doesn't really count either. We only went out for one day. Actually, why are you getting mad at all?"

She grumbled a curse under her breath. "It's a whitelighter thing. You wouldn't understand."

"I'm trying very hard to understand Max. But it would help if you'd tell me. Why would you be jealous if it was your idea to break up in the first place?"

"It's stupid… and kind of selfish."

"Tell me." He pleaded.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I was happy you moved on at first… until I realized something. I couldn't move on." He didn't quite know what she meant, so she did her best to explain. "I don't have a whole lot of options. How close can I actually get to someone when I'm supposed to be dead? And on top of all that, I have this double life. How normal a relationship can I have when I'm orbing all over the place with you and Zack to vanquish demons or save an innocent? I don't know how you can do it? I can't blend in as easily as you." She looked down at the floor. "And I won't lie; it wasn't easy seeing you with other girls. You seemed so happy with them, and I couldn't be a part of that anymore."

They were silent again. It took a great deal of nerve for Cody to speak again. "I was happy with them. I got a few great friends out of them. I still do. But there was always something missing." He edged his face closer to make her look at him. "They weren't you." She froze and they both stopped dancing. "Max, tell me something. If you could go back to that night, and the warlock threw an energy ball again, and you'd have to make the same choice, what would you choose?"

Her chocolate eyes seemed to look past him at something very distant as the song faded out. Then after what seemed like forever she opened her mouth. "Zack."

"Zack?!" Cody's jaw dropped.

Max shook her head and pointed to something behind him. Cody turned his head to find that she actually was looking at Zack who was visible now, dancing very closely with a woman whose red silk gown and waist length hair gave her away even though they couldn't see her face. Zack and Gwen's eyes were locked on each other's. When they turned and Cody could see her face, with the look she wore, one would never guess that she was dancing with her arch-nemesis.

She inched her face forward to whisper something to Zack. "Such a skary face. What's that for?"

"Don't pretend like you don't know." Zack growled.

"You're kute when you're angry. Hey, it was nothing personal. I was only akting on orders." The song changed then to David Archuleta's "Desperate". The music was faster and demanded a change of mood. Letting the music draw him in, helping him forget who he was with, Zack put his arm tighter around her waist, tightening their stance. "Ooh my." She almost giggled in surprise. Then she tightened her own grip around him. "You know, in the Tate family it's the women who lead." She began pulling him in one direction, but found that he swiftly pulled her in the other.

"Well that's not how I roll."

"Forceful… and a little arrogant. I like that." The two of them continued struggling for the lead, but they were quickly syncing into harmony with each other. Not to mention gathering an audience. More and more of the guests seemed taken with the fiery couple in the middle that had begun to tango and spin in the center of the floor. Zack was an excellent dancer, and Gwen in her red dress and her long hair that spun back and forth with her was truly stunning.

"So why do the women have all the power anyway?" Zack asked. The music was loud enough that only Gwen could hear what he was saying. "Matthew Tate was a Warlock. Isn't he the patriarch?"

"Matthew Tate is exaktly the reason that only women kan be heads of the family. But it's a long and boring story that's been told to me over and over ever since I was a little girl. You wouldn't be interested."

"I love a good story. Try me."

Gwen smiled slyly. Apparently she wasn't as bored with this story as she had claimed. "Alright then. Matthew Tate was foolish with his powers, arrogant enough to believe that he kould trick Melinda Warren herself; the most powerful witch of her time. But before that he tricked another witch. A woman named Selene from the Netherlands. Once he had her powers he was going to do away with her just as he had done to so many others. But he akted too late. By the time he was ready, she was karrying his child."

"She was having his kid?" Zack asked in astonishment.

"Twins aktually. Not even Matthew Tate was kruel enough to kill his own children. So he decided to pretend a little longer until he kould take the children. But by then, Selene had kaught on to what he was up to. So she put him to sleep with a potion, and while he was out kold, she stole his horse and rode as far as she kould. He tried to find her, but before he kould, the Source rekruited him in his plot against Melinda Warren whom he had foreseen would be the key to his demise. So Matthew vowed to kontinue his search after he was through. But of kourse we all know he never got a chance. Melinda sealed him in a pewter locket in revenge for betraying her and her koven."

Zack spun her again and she came back into his arms a little too eagerly. "So what happened to Selene?"

"She lived out her days in a town kalled Ipswitch. She did give birth to the twins, one girl and one boy. The boy she named Thomas, and the girl she named Rosalind. But she noticed that the boy was so like his father, ambitious, kunning, and manipulative. She feared that he would follow his father's footsteps and bekome a wicked being. So she made Rosalind her heir, and asked her to look after Thomas so that he wouldn't use his powers foolishly. And it has kontinued that way ever since. Her union with a warlock is also the reason that good and evil have always warred within our bloodline. Both sides of the skale exist within us."

"Cool story." Zack admitted. They stepped into another maneuver, and he lifted her into the air. He was a little surprised that she didn't resist. But he became distracted by something in the corner of his eye. Something that had been hidden by her sleeve, but had just revealed itself now that it had fallen away. She had always worn long sleeves, so he had never caught a glimpse of it before, but it was glaring at him now. On the inside of her wrist was a strange birthmark. At first it looked like a long red oval, but a closer look at it showed that it more closely resembled a flame… or was it a bird. But he lost sight of it again when he set her back on her feet. They finished with him spinning her into a dip to look up at him. Then the song finally ended. "So do you think Selene was right? That men can't handle their power?"

She pulled herself back up so they could see eye to eye again. "Well I'd say it's just a story, but look at what's bekome of my dear Unkle Nathan."

"True. But what about me and Cody? We're part of the Seven."

"You and your brother are… unique. And you… I've never seen a witch with such passion for what they do… what they are. There's something very special about you." For the first time since he had known her, Gwen seemed hesitant. When she had been his friend she had always shown him a strong resolve. When he discovered that she was really his enemy, that resolve had transformed into an iron will. But to hear her struggle with her words and not seem to know what to say was all very new to him. He could tell she didn't like it either. "Why did you kome here tonight?" she asked abruptly. "You didn't really think we'd drag Nikole here would you?"

"No." he admitted. "But we were at least hoping to find out more about where you have her."

"You have Nathan with you. He kould tell you all about our various estates, inkluding the one on the outskirts of town that Abigail is staying in right now. There had to be another reason you kame here."

He grimaced at her. She had them figured out. "But we can't get in with all the protection you have set up."

"So you kame to get leverage. Very klever. I would have done the same thing. I was expecting you to kome after us here while we were all in public where we kouldn't use our powers. That's why I took out a little insurance policy."

Before he could figure out what she meant, Rose's voice came over the speakers. The blond woman was standing on stage to make an announcement over the mic. "Welkome all, and on behalf of our esteemed representative Abigail Tate, who made all this possible. She regrets that she kould not be here tonight, but she sends her best wishes, and reminds you all to be generous with your donations as they all go straight to the funding for the Boston Children's Museum, of which our establishment has been a proud sponsor for many years. And now for the moment you've all been waiting for, tonight's entertainment is a real special treat. They've just returned from the final leg of their tour with their band, and were kind enough to agree to perform tonight with only a day's notice. Please welkome to the stage, Kurt and Karey Martin!"


End file.
